If Android is so popular, why are many apps still released for iOS first?

Android is big. Really big. According to research firm Gartner, 79% of all smartphones sold between April and June this year were running Android: 177.9m handsets compared to Apple's 31.9m iPhones.
Another research firm, IDC, estimates that 62.6% of tablets that shipped to retailers between April and June were running Android: 28.2m devices versus 14.6m iPads.
Meanwhile, Google says that more than 1.5m new Android devices are being activated every day, it's nearing 1bn activated in total so far, and that by the end of this year that total will include more than 70m Android tablets.
Big. Yet a lot of apps still come out for Apple's iOS first or even exclusively. Right now, if you own an iOS device, you can play Plants vs. Zombies 2, Clash of Clans and Worms 3, but Android owners can't.
Instagram launched on Android 18 months after iOS. Nike's Nike+ FuelBand still hasn't made the leap. Mailbox and Tweetbot are still no-shows, and while much-praised children's app-maker Toca Boca has 18 apps available on iOS, only one of them is also on Android.

Developer concerns about costs and complexity

Developing iOS apps means ensuring they work nicely on a small range of iPhones and/or iPads: generally 6-8 different devices depending how far back the developer wants to go.On Android, it's a different story: nearly 12,000 different devices out there in the hands of people, with a wider range of screen sizes, processors and versions of the Android software still in use.

 

Developer concerns about profits and piracy

When developers are slow to support Android, it's often not just about the money and time they'll spend getting there – it's concern about the money they'll make once on the platform.It tends to be a two-pronged thing: first, the perception that Android users are less likely to spend money on or in apps, and second, the belief that paid apps in particular suffer from crippling levels of piracy on Android.