AppStore Bucks Economic Downturn Trends

10:03 pm, November 30th, 2008, Lonnie Lazar

Blogger Charles Teague has done some comprehensive analysis of emerging trends based on the AppStore’s first 5 months of business and there’s no denying Apple’s online distribution model has exploded out of the gate.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the proposition that the AppStore could be Apple’s most revolutionary development of all, which Teague’s research would appear to confirm in many respects.

The chart below shows the number of applications being released per day, with momentum clearly trending upward and sitting currently at more than 140 new apps per day. There are more than 9000 apps available on the AppStore, with the ratio of paid to free apps at about 7:2.

Teague reports that the average price for paid applications is $4.15, with a distribution comprised of a lot of free and cheap applications and very few applications that are very expensive. There are more $.99 applications (3000+) than free applications (2000+). Not surprisingly, however, free applications are a lot more popular than paid applications.

The second chart shows the pricing distribution of applications by category. Business and healthcare apps tend to be the most expensive, while news and entertainment apps are among the cheapest.

Games are by far the runaway success on the AppStore. Representing just 23% of the applications available, games account for between 39 and 50% of the Top 100 most downloaded apps. And while free applications are by far the most popular, holding the first 52 spots in the Top 100, there are several applications selling on the AppStore for hundreds of dollars per copy, including sophisticated apps that access medical databases, financial products, home automation and music programs.

Five months of blockbuster performance does not mean the AppStore spells the death knell of traditional brick and mortar distribution models, but in the realm of consumer software, it’s hard to ignore the waves Apple is making with both its iPhone and this new way of getting software into the hands of end users. For now much of the activity and excitement pertains to the AppStore’s free offerings, but it should be noted - that particular marketing strategy has long been successful for enterprises as diverse as big box retailers and street corner hustlers.

Via Dragon Style.

Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, News, iTunes | Comment on this article