iOS App Store Booming: Per-Device Downloads and Average Sales Price Increasing

[ChazUK]

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I've got to say that Appshopper saves me poop loads of money. (yes, I'm tight!)

It's fantastic to see that developers can do so well on the App Store tho. Good news all round.

 

[Sackvillenb]

Interesting that the app store only accounts for 1% of Apple's revenue...

 

[Bigdaddyguido]

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Edit: For some reason I quoted the wrong comment

 

[erzhik]

And devs actually make money.

As opposed to something where devs don't make money? Apple doesn't pay devs, CONSUMERS pay devs. Apple just so happens to give a store for devs, which in return gave Apple what it has now. Without devs, Apple would be nothing.

 

[reticulate]

That 83% figure goes a long way to explaining why iAd pricing recently dropped. People are mostly going for the free apps, which makes sense if you're already paying a chunk of change for the phone in the first place.

Apple wants a piece of that sweet ad-supported pie, but I think their focus on "UX above all else" might bite them in the ass when competing in the advertising market.

 

[MarkNY]

The App Store works for iOS devices. Consumers have tons of apps to choose from and developers get paid. I wonder if the Mac App Store will work? Will future versions of OS X need to be locked down to prevent pirated apps? App prices need to fall but there needs to be a higher fraction of legit customers to make app prices fall. What I mean by need to fall is from the point of view of the consumer willing to make spur of the moment purchase and not look for other sources (pirated) for the app. Ironically, consumers may be made better off if Apple does lock it down -- more legit purchases will spur development and lower prices, thus consumers won't bother with the hassle of pirated apps and will pay a low price for legit apps.

 

[Consultant]

The App Store would make a lot more money if they had a multi-user licensing model in place or corp purchase model. If Apple did this we could save millions of dollars a year relying on third party purchasing companies and purchasing staff. As it stands now we can't even use the App Store due to licensing.

We budget in the millions for software per year across our company.

On another note I still haven't bought anything from the Mac App store.

If your "company" actually has that kind of budget, they would know that Apple offers mass deploying / licensing for enterprise.

 

[InfernoShade]

That's what it's all about. Developers have to make money. Free only goes so far before you have to pay the bills and eat.

Apple is doing a good job helping developers make money by making it organized and easy for millions to buy.

You forget, even with free apps developers can still make money.

Most free apps have ads in them, so they are making money there. Also when devs make free apps that are marketing for products/brand, they get paid to make that app. For example HBO hires a dev company to make an app for one of their shows. The devs get paid to do create this app.

 

[Popeye206]

Yep, some devs make money.

$2.5 billion in royalties paid out over 80,000 paid iOS apps.

Other viable (and older) app stores are the ones for BREW apps for dumbphones. Verizon's is probably the best known. $3 billion in royalties paid out to the developers of just 18,000 apps.

Can't find these stats... Plus, BREW is managed by Qualcomm and pays 80% of wholesale to developers. So I'm not sure what Verizon would pay since Qualcomm is the middle man.

 

[ralphdaily]

I don't think so. Even Adobe, which is one of the most restrictive, allows two installs. I have CS5 on both my laptop and my wife's Mac Pro. I bought Leopard and Snow Leopard family packs which I can't do with Lion.

You realize that with most software licensing and protection schemes this is hard to do at all with traditional activation schemes.

My point being... you're upset about something that's restricted under most methods.

 

[InfernoShade]

If your "company" actually has that kind of budget, they would know that Apple offers mass deploying / licensing for enterprise.

Exactly. I was about to post a similar thought.

Companies work with Apple to create apps for their specific needs. Apple will help you set up a "store" for all your employees. My company has created dozens of apps with various developers, and Apple helped us deploy. Actually the last 3 companies I've worked at have done this.

Seems like this guy - or as you say, his "company" - hasn't done his research.

 

[mamcx]

Most free apps have ads in them, so they are making money there.

Depending in ads revenue is stupid. You need *big* exposure to have anything of it.

A regular app could cost US 10.000 or more to develop. Try to cover that just with ads, then try to live with it from months.

Ads is great, if you have Angry Birds. For the rest of us...

 

[jayducharme]

20111 is a long time away.

But that's what makes Munster such a well-respected analyst. He can see that far into the future.

 

[Ed State]

That's awesome… but I with I didn't have FOUR Apple IDs that they won't let me combine/fix. Between my wife and I, our 3 mac computers, 2 iPhones and one iPad it's an absolute mess, and quite shameful that Apple offers no solve for this.

 

[morespce54]

I don't think so. Even Adobe, which is one of the most restrictive, allows two installs. I have CS5 on both my laptop and my wife's Mac Pro. I bought Leopard and Snow Leopard family packs which I can't do with Lion.

You should be able to do so (at least by sign-in with your Apple ID on your wife Mac Pro's Mac Store). Worst case scenario, you create an account on your wife's Ma Pro, download and install Lion and delete your newly created account.
Unless I'm missing something. We'll see soon enough.

 

[NT1440]

Good News Everyone!

 

[InfernoShade]

Depending in ads revenue is stupid. You need *big* exposure to have anything of it.

A regular app could cost US 10.000 or more to develop. Try to cover that just with ads, then try to live with it from months.

Ads is great, if you have Angry Birds. For the rest of us...

I didn't say it was the best solution. But it is a solution. And it is a way to make money. Actually your example of Angry Birds supports my point. If you have a hit, you could make some money with ads.

 

[morespce54]

That's awesome… but I with I didn't have FOUR Apple IDs that they won't let me combine/fix. Between my wife and I, our 3 mac computers, 2 iPhones and one iPad it's an absolute mess, and quite shameful that Apple offers no solve for this.

I hear you.
But I can't see why you have so much accounts for only you two...

 

[trackbikes]

I just wish that Apple would let those of us who live abroad view the app store in out native languages!!

I would buy loads more!

All my OSX/IOS installs use english as the default language, when i purchased my ipad, Imac's and iphone i could immediately switch them from spanish to english.

Can't do that with the app store, i just have to try to find what i want via a spanish Interface.... doesn't make sense! (either language wise or logically!)

There are loads of threads about this on the apple discussion pages yet they seem to not want to address it!

 

[firewood]

...
The best apps. The most apps. And devs actually make money.

Some devs make money. But, according to reports, only around the top 10% to 20% of paid apps make more than coffee money. And for apps with significant development costs or consultant fees, only a fraction of that fraction breaks even. (And a really tiny fraction get rich, sort of like a lottery.)

As opposed to something where devs don't make money? Apple doesn't pay devs, CONSUMERS pay devs.

Most devs don't make money (less than 50% average more than 1 app sold per day). The deposits to devs come from Apple. Up to 80 days after the App store records a download. Apple doesn't even tell developers the names of any costumers. And Apple can make or break most developers by deciding whether or not to feature an app.

Except for a few viral hits, the marketing machine pays devs, as it controls most consumer behavior.

 

[Cha]

Can't find these stats... Plus, BREW is managed by Qualcomm and pays 80% of wholesale to developers. So I'm not sure what Verizon would pay since Qualcomm is the middle man.

I can't find an article stating that claim as well... The only thing close was http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/03/11/app-store-who-android-market-what-qualcomms-brew-platform-has-transacted-over-3-billion-in-app-sales/

But the fee structure of BREW development and distribution is so different, it's hard to figure out what get's paid to developers.
For example... this seems to be the testing fees - https://developer.brewmp.com/resources/how/distribution-overview/supporting-concepts/test-and-item-submission-guidelines/testing-fees

 

[kdarling]

If your "company" actually has that kind of budget, they would know that Apple offers mass deploying / licensing for enterprise.

I could be wrong, but it sounded more like Mattie was talking about bulk purchases from the iTunes App Store, not about deploying their own company apps.

In other words, does Apple offer corporate discounts on mass App Store purchases?

 

[spazzcat]

I don't think so. Even Adobe, which is one of the most restrictive, allows two installs. I have CS5 on both my laptop and my wife's Mac Pro. I bought Leopard and Snow Leopard family packs which I can't do with Lion.

But you are not allowed to use both installs of an Adobe program at the same time...

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

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I wish I was getting paid some. The problem with my apps is they have no visibility. I'm an individual developer, not a huge company. I don't know how Andreas Illiger did it. Lol I need ways to advertise my apps.

Do some searches on google like: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=app+marketing+consultants&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 There are lots of app marketing consultants ready to help. Some share some good do-it-yourself tips. Others have much more comprehensive tactical offerings.

 

[Popeye206]

I don't think so. Even Adobe, which is one of the most restrictive, allows two installs. I have CS5 on both my laptop and my wife's Mac Pro. I bought Leopard and Snow Leopard family packs which I can't do with Lion.

To my knowledge I thought they said you'd be able to install Lion on multiple machines by just logging on with the Apple ID that bought the license.

Even with previous OS's, Apple may have sold a Family pack, but they never stopped you from getting the $29 CD and installing on every Mac in your house.

Again... I don't get the big deal... you log in, download, log off and install. Done.