Google’s annual developer’s conference, Google I/O, kicks off tomorrow in San Francisco. Consequently Google holds their annual conference in the exact same location that Apple does, the Moscone center. Google is also holding satellite I/O sessions across the country and around the globe. This is the third year in a row that they’ve offered people who can’t make it to San Francisco the chance to participate this way.

While Android is the most popular smartphone OS in the world, Android developers have often gotten the short end of the stick when it came to both downloads and revenue. Since the introduction of smartphones and app stores, Apple developers have always kicked the pants off Android developers where it counts, in the wallet.

New data released yesterday is signaling that it may be time for a change. Venturebeat reported that Google Play downloads are up 1.5x while revenue is up 2.5x. It’s the first time that revenue has outperformed downloads. Not surprising is that the biggest uptick in revenue is coming from freemium games and apps where consumers download a game or an app but pay for content or virtual goods within the app. That’s actually the most popular revenue model on the iOS platform as well.

Games are obviously huge for Google but all categories have seen a significant increase. Entertainment apps jumped 35% social apps grew 50% and communications apps like WhatsApp and other messenger apps saw an increase of 100%. Games account for 90% of Google Play revenue.

Japan was the top country for Google Play revenue while Brazil with the top company for pay to download apps. Worldwide only 2% of the Android app revenue came from pay to download, the rest was in freemium.

Japan had the highest growth, followed by the US, South Korea, Germany and the UK. AppAnnie reports that the sheer number of Android apps grew 60% between July 2013 and June 2014.

Over 5000 Android developers from around the world are expected at Google I/O this week with hundreds of thousands watching at home. Google is expected to spend a lot of time talking about wearable technology and it’s AndroidWear product. They are also expected to announce the latest version of Android and possibly a Nexus 6. Stay tuned to Techfaster for all the latest Google I/O information.