Android Honeycomb Paid App sales soar claims Google

Google is claiming more than a four-fold increase in paid app sales for Android Honeycomb tablets in comparison to Android Gingerbread device users, according to the company's latest stats. Although Gingerbread sales are considerably higher than any previous iteration of Android for smartphones, Little Fluffy Toys reports from the search giant's Android Developer Lab in London, UK this morning, Google seems to be saying that it's tablets which have succeeded in opening Android users' wallets.

There are no actual numbers attached to the chart, which means it's hard to compare Android app sales with, say, iOS or other platforms. Regular studies have suggested that Android developers find it far harder to sell paid apps to their audience than iOS developers do, while also suffering significantly from piracy issues. Apple users buy 61-percent more apps and pay 14-percent more per title, according to research back in July.

Honeycomb – Google's version of Android specifically tailored for tablets, and launched at the top end of the year – has been criticized for falling short of apps to suit larger-screen devices. In comparison, Apple claimed yesterday that there were 140,000 iPad-specific titles in the App Store.