App Store Download Statistics Suggest Strong iPod Touch Holiday Sales

[seedster2]

What you seem to fail to understand is that the chart doesn't show product purchases, it shows downloads from phones & touches. Comments in this thread refer to the seemingly logical conclusion that more downloads means more devices in use.

Or maybe i missed your point?

While I also assumed that the more downloads means more devices, his conclusion isnt totally unreasonable either.

People give ipod gift cards as gifts far more than devices because of the pricepoint. With the increased number of applications in the itunes catalog, it's not unreasonable to think that users who were sticking to free apps are now buying new paid apps with their gift cards.

 

[cvaldes]

Wouldn't we suspect long term that iPhone always beats out iPod touch app downloads based on the time one has access to Internet when using an iPod touch? I would like to see time on iPod touch with Internet number of downloaded apps compare to iPhone. My thought is that iPhones will alwas download more based upon the acces and yes I know getting that data is impossible

Nah, it has more to do with the people using the devices, not the always-on Internet access.

There are already studies out there of iPhone and iPod touch user demographics and clearly, they are not the same. 69% of iPod touch users are below the age of 24 whereas only 26% of iPhone users are in the same age group (58% of iPhone users are between 25-39).

Source: AdMob metrics

As it turns out, those iPod touch users download far more apps (average 18 downloads per month) than iPhone or Android users (average 10 downloads per month).

Source: GigaOm article

 

[sjo]

While I also assumed that the more downloads means more devices, his conclusion isnt totally unreasonable either.

People give ipod gift cards as gifts far more than devices because of the pricepoint. With the increased number of applications in the itunes catalog, it's not unreasonable to think that users who were sticking to free apps are now buying new paid apps with their gift cards.

third factor affecting the numbers is the time people have to use their devices. there seems to be more downloads when people are not working / at school, eg weekends. the long christmas holidays are perfect to play with your devices recovering from overeating. i'd suggest waiting until after the first "normal" weekend before drawing drastic conclusions (Jan 11th - Jan 12th the earliest).

 

[Compile 'em all]

App Store Download Statistics Suggest Strong iPod Touch Holiday Sales

As an iPhone dev who just took a look at the sales reports (iTunes Connect was down from 24th till a few hrs ago) of the last 3 days I can confirm this .

 

[vilasgn]

third factor affecting the numbers is the time people have to use their devices. there seems to be more downloads when people are not working / at school, eg weekends. the long christmas holidays are perfect to play with your devices recovering from overeating. i'd suggest waiting until after the first "normal" weekend before drawing drastic conclusions (Jan 11th - Jan 12th the earliest).

I agree with sjo but I strongly agree with seedster2. Since the statistics talk about just the number of app downloads it could be because of the itunes gift cards.

 

[gnagy]

Since no developer has access to their sales from Dec. 23-29, I'll wait for concrete proof until I go pat Apple on the back.

I just logged in and downloaded my sales data for Xmas. On the 25th of December, I had 7 times the normal amount of sales. As an iPhone developer, I can confirm that this is true.

 

[kdarling]

SJ was right when he said (implicitly) that the low entry price for the AppStore (199$ iPod touch) is more important than a camera on its back.

There's no evidence of that until/unless an iPod touch with a camera is offered opposite the same model without a camera.

As for the spike in Christmas day downloads, iTunes card gifts make a lot of sense. We give out a bunch ourselves.

 

[AngryApple]

Am I the only one who read "month-to-month" as "mouth-to-mouth?" Anyways...

I know several people who got an iPod touch. They were also sold out at most stores.

 

[Razeus]

This is page 2 news at best.

 

[johnnyhow]

The sad thing is ther is so much trash in the app store, I'd like to see a big clean up from apple.

 

[Razeus]

The App Store is a joke, frankly. 100,000 apps is a nice round number. But I think that there are .0005% of the apps that are actually useful + another 25 that are good games.

Plus the fact they count free apps and the equivalent paid app as seperate. Plus all the redundent "me too" apps.

It needs an overhaul, because even with 100,000 apps, I see the same ones over and over again when I visit the App Store.

 

[jo0]

no surprise really, people get an iphone for a cool phone with potential to run cool apps. people buy the ipod touch for pretty much the sole purpose of running cool apps.

 

[Sabenth]

well i got a touch for xmas and yep i spent a bit of money on apps mr driller is keeping me occupied i am some what disappointed on the battery life when playing games but for music outstanding life

 

[satcomer]

I just hope this wasn't just iTunes Gift Certificates than were given and more iPod Touch sales.

 

[Menhir]

Amazon provides a hint..

Amazon has said in it's press release that "During the 2009 holiday season, Amazon customers bought enough 8 GB iPod touches to play 442 years of continuous music."

If someone can do the math and add some estimations for different models, it should give a general idea of the overall touch sales from Amazon alone.

 

[iphones4evry1]

Apple is smart. Get the young ones familiar with the Touch before they are old enough for an iPhone and when they become old enough they will choose iPhone instead of BrokenBerry. Smart thinking.

 

[cvaldes]

Amazon has said in it's press release that "During the 2009 holiday season, Amazon customers bought enough 8 GB iPod touches to play 442 years of continuous music."

If someone can do the math and add some estimations for different models, it should give a general idea of the overall touch sales from Amazon alone.

They are quoting sales of the 8GB model only, so there isn't a good way to extrapolate sales of the other models (to my knowledge).

That said, Apple claims the 8GB model can play 1750 songs (4 min/ea). Once you do the math, it appears that Amazon.com sold 33,187 of the 8GB units for a revenue figure of nearly $6 million.

The 32GB model placed third in terms of electronics sales (Kindle was #1, the iPod touch 8GB was #2). For argument's sake, let's say they sold 30,000 of those; that's another $8 million in revenue.

The 64GB model ranked #15 in electronics sales. Let's say that they sold slightly over 8,000 units: another $3 million in revenue.

Impressive.

 

[Goona]

There's no evidence of that until/unless an iPod touch with a camera is offered opposite the same model without a camera.

As for the spike in Christmas day downloads, iTunes card gifts make a lot of sense. We give out a bunch ourselves.

Damn it must hurt like a biatch hearing good news from Apple.

 

[heisetax]

How are they counted.

Wouldn't we suspect long term that iPhone always beats out iPod touch app downloads based on the time one has access to Internet when using an iPod touch? I would like to see time on iPod touch with Internet number of downloaded apps compare to iPhone. My thought is that iPhones will alwas download more based upon the acces and yes I know getting that data is impossible

Like others I know, we download our apps for our iPhone &/or iPod Touch from our Macs. How would these downloads be recorded. I've only downloaded a few apps to my iPod Touch. The count is 50 - Mac, 3 - iPod Touch.

 

[lilskaterpunk]

Apple is doing good

 

[iggity pop]

Makes sense.

for the price, the ipod touch seems like a relevant product to get.