The iPhone 5 scooped up more good news today as yet more evidence reveals that Android users are simply not buying apps for their devices. Even as the latest data shows that iPhone/iOS users are gobbling up apps at more than a fifty percent increase over the previous year, Android developers are crying broke over not being able to sell their apps for even a smidgeon of a price tag.

To an extent this could mean that those who buy an Android phone are simply cheap and are not the types to pay for apps. But in an arena where most Android phones come with an initial price tag of some kind (and some Android phones are more expensive than the iPhone), and all smartphones come with a bill in the rough ballpark of a hundred bucks per month per user once all the fees are added up, the unwillingness on the part of Android users to buy paid apps even as iPhone users are gobbling up apps at an increasing rate and leaning more toward higher priced apps signals something deeper happening: Android users aren’t paying for apps because they’re mere squatters who don’t plan on being on the Android platform for long and they know they can’t take the apps with them.

People invest money into infrastructure for a house they own, but less so for a house they’re leasing – and almost nothing if they’re living in a short term rental they don’t plan to be in for long. They only investments they’ll make are in the kinds of things they know they can easily take with them and use in the next house. With the iPhone 5 around the corner and so many Android users having decided that it’ll be their jumping off point for iOS instead of Android OS, it’s no wonder they’re not willing to pour money into Android-specific apps and are instead sticking primarily to free apps. The ways in which this phenomenon can be attributed to a planned exodus in favor of the iPhone 5 are varied but all contain a similar theme.

Carrier – There are users who have wanted an iPhone since 2007 but haven’t been willing or able to move to AT&T, so they’ve gone with the best of what their current carrier has offered. In many cases that’s been Android. But with Verizon about to participate in the launch of a new iPhone for the first time with the iPhone 5, this marks the ideal jumping off point for Verizon customers. When it comes to T-Mobile and Sprint customers, although there’s no word yet on whether they’ll gain the iPhone 5, those users are expecting the iPhone to come to them eventually so they also see their Android experience as a short term rental.

Contract – Just because Verizon launched an iPhone 4 a few months ago doesn’t mean all of its Droid users have already reached upgrade-eligible pricing; in fact the vast majority haven’t. They’ll make their move to the iPhone at some point during the iPhone 5 era, once they reach the point in their contract at which they can get an iPhone 5 without having to pay a financial penalty for it. In the mean time, they’re not buying any Android apps either.

Duped – You would have been willing to change carriers to get the iPhone if need be, but the desperate salesgeek in the store lied to you and told you that Android is “just like iPhone” or “better than iPhone” or that “iPhone has problems” or some other familiar made-up lie. You fell for it, stayed with your current carrier, and have since identified your Android experience as having been a mistake. You’ve stopped paying for apps because you too don’t plan on being on Android any longer than you have to, and you’ve also identified the new iPhone 5 as your jumping off point.

So will every Android user bail in favor of the iPhone once the iPhone 5 launches? Of course not. But with Android users having reported a mere twenty-eight percent planned retention rate in terms of buying another Android phone in the future, that means the majority of the Android platform plans to move elsewhere with their next phone purchase – and the new iPhone 5 is by far the likeliest destination.

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iPhone 5 Meets Android Exodus As Apple Picks Up Cheap Squatters