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Mac App Store Dominated by Paid Apps, Top Apps' Revenue at 50% of Top iPad Apps'

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Apr 12, 2001
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App Store analytics firm Distimo today issued a new report comparing the performance of Apple's two-month old Mac App Store to the more mature iPad and iPhone App Store segments, revealing that the Mac App Store is dominated by paid apps that also carry a higher average price than paid iPad apps.

Looking at the 300 most popular apps in each of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac App Stores, Distimo found a clear pattern of popularity, with iPhone and iPod touch apps being downloaded more than five times as often as iPad apps, which themselves are downloaded more than five times as often as Mac apps. But the large disparities in downloads are partially offset by differences in average pricing that see a similar pattern in reverse, although to a lesser degree. Consequently, the differences between each platform are reduced from 5x to 2x when revenue is considered instead of downloads.
The top applications on iPhone generate 2.1 times the revenue of top applications on the iPad. The top paid applications on the iPad in turn generate 2.0 times the revenue of top paid applications in the Mac App Store.

The differences in the ratio of downloads and the ratio of revenue is captured in the average selling price of top 300 applications in the different stores: $1.57 on iPhone, $4.19 on iPad and $11.21 in the Mac App Store.
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The Mac App Store also skews more toward paid apps in general than iOS apps, with only 12% of Mac App Store applications currently available for free. That compares to 29% of iPad apps and 35% of iPhone/iPod touch apps.

Based on Distimo's numbers, Apple's Mac App Store had about 2,225 applications available in the United States at the end of February when the survey was conducted. Our own sister site AppShopper currently shows that number approaching 3,000.

Article Link: Mac App Store Dominated by Paid Apps, Top Apps' Revenue at 50% of Top iPad Apps'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/18/mac-app-store-dominated-by-paid-apps-top-apps-revenue-at-50-of-top-ipad-apps/
And a lot of time will pass untill all the junk is filtered out. App to unzip zip archives for 9 bucks? Stop joking people.
 
Developers have to make money some how. Charging more for an app you can run on a mac rather than an iOS is only right in my opinion.
 
Žalgiris said:
And a lot of time will pass untill all the junk is filtered out. App to unzip zip archives for 9 bucks? Stop joking people.
Click to expand...

My problem with the App store is its like a swap meet. You really have to search to find the good stuff. I wish all the crap apps were indeed filtered out. On a side note I have never purchased a paid app. Just free stuff.
 
I still haven't bought anything from the Mac app store. Don't see the point. :confused:
 
If works with NFC, going to be huge

If Apple does what they are rumored - to have info on all apps purchased via the Mac App Store and allow you to log into a Mac and have all your apps available for re-download and use temporarily, that would be a big reason to buy via Mac App Store instead of directly from the programmers. You'd have your profile stored at Apple and use it to run programs at college etc or at hotel workstation, Kinko's type place, etc.
 
v66jack said:
Developers have to make money some how. Charging more for an app you can run on a mac rather than an iOS is only right in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Sure they do, but if they can get more volume by having lower prices,
maybe they can make at least as much that way.

The only way in which I see it's "right" for software for one
platform to cost more than another is where the likely volume is
lower or the development cost is higher; the second being probably
less significant, because volume is variable while development costs
are fixed.

In other words, total revenue will usually be highest with a very low
price, regardless of development costs. That doesn't mean everything
would be 99 cents; for something obviously exceptional and delivering
great function and user experience, people would be willing to pay more
and still feel like they were getting a good value.

So the "race to the bottom" for application prices can be good for the
application developer that provides a quality product, and among paid
apps, the poor ones with better alternatives should fade fast.
 
Mattie Num Nums said:
My problem with the App store is its like a swap meet. You really have to search to find the good stuff. I wish all the crap apps were indeed filtered out. On a side note I have never purchased a paid app. Just free stuff.
Click to expand...

If you think the App Store is bad, you should try Google Marketplace. It's an order-of-magnitude worse. I personally don't find navigating the App Store (iOS or OSX) bad at all.
 
rlhamil said:
In other words, total revenue will usually be highest with a very low
price, regardless of development costs. That doesn't mean everything
would be 99 cents; for something obviously exceptional and delivering
great function and user experience, people would be willing to pay more
and still feel like they were getting a good value.
Click to expand...

I think this really depends on the type of app. If you're making some super accessible game (think Angry Birds), then a lower price with higher volume is probably a good idea. However, if you have an app with a very limited audience (think app to aid doctors find drug interactions), then a higher price is better, since you have a smaller target market who are willing to pay higher prices.
 
MacRumors said:


App Store analytics firm Distimo today issued a new report comparing the performance of Apple's two-month old Mac App Store to the more mature iPad and iPhone App Store segments, revealing that the Mac App Store is dominated by paid apps that also carry a higher average price than paid iPad apps.
[/url]
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Hold on a second. This business is based solely on analysing the app store?
 
Not A Valid Compare

This is not a valid comparison because for the Mac software developers have many ways to sell their software besides the Mac App Store (Retail boxes, web, etc.). For iOS devices, there is no other way get apps (besides hacking your device).

Plus, for decades Mac users have used other sources to get their software. What is the incentive to use the Mac App Store unless the apps there are cheaper or only available in the Mac App store.
 
LJB said:
This is not a valid comparison because for the Mac software developers have many ways to sell their software besides the Mac App Store (Retail boxes, web, etc.). For iOS devices, there is no other way get apps (besides hacking your device).
Click to expand...

Well yes, the Mac App Store is just ramping up. But I think it's an interesting data point about what the current state of each of the App Stores are. I don't think anyone is trying to say that the Mac App Store is a failure in any way, just less mature than the iOS offerings.

What is the incentive to use the Mac App Store unless the apps there are cheaper or only available in the Mac App store.
Click to expand...

One unified place to look for apps. Nearly instant delivery. Low environmental impact (no boxes, plastic wrap, disc, disc case, instruction booklet, etc.).
 
Mattie Num Nums said:
My problem with the App store is its like a swap meet. You really have to search to find the good stuff. I wish all the crap apps were indeed filtered out. On a side note I have never purchased a paid app. Just free stuff.
Click to expand...

I bought Transmit, NZBVortex, moveAddict. Very happy so far.
 
I didn't understand these "stats" the first go around. Pretty sure their business model is to explain their "stats."

... and frankly, all the businesses that generate stats, well, can't say I'd trust their methods since they're often in conflict. People are hungry for "stats" whether they understand them or not, so I guess that explains why there are businesses centered on generating them, worthwhile or not.
 
Mattie Num Nums said:
My problem with the App store is its like a swap meet. You really have to search to find the good stuff. I wish all the crap apps were indeed filtered out. On a side note I have never purchased a paid app. Just free stuff.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, your crap apps are the stuff other people might want, and vice versa; so there's nothing Apple can really do to filter the content. They should allow user filtering though, so if (say) you're not interested in Games, or 99c apps etc., you can filter them out.

I've spent more on Mac apps in the last few months than in the previous 10 years. It's not just a great way of finding out about apps that I otherwise wouldn't, it's energised developers into creating new apps too.

I think it's great the Mac app store has been doing so well, considering it's new, it requires an OS upgrade, and the prices are (relatively) high. It's only going to get better. I'd love to hear some actual figures though, I suspect few people are making significant money yet.
 
I still buy more, or spend more using MacUpdate/MacHeist bundle sales at $45-50 a pop (10-14 apps) than using the App stores. I do have a lot of Apps but most are free or I wait for a really good sale.
 
foodle said:
One unified place to look for apps. Nearly instant delivery. Low environmental impact (no boxes, plastic wrap, disc, disc case, instruction booklet, etc.).
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It's achieving another important thing for Apple too - it's creating a buzz around the Mac software ecosystem. If you visit the Mac app store, you'd think the market is very vibrant, busy and popular; whereas in truth there probably aren't many more Mac apps now than there were a couple of months ago - but that's likely to change.
 
foodle said:
One unified place to look for apps. Nearly instant delivery. Low environmental impact (no boxes, plastic wrap, disc, disc case, instruction booklet, etc.).
Click to expand...

And easier updates, compared to checking n developer sites periodically.
 
rlhamil said:
In other words, total revenue will usually be highest with a very low price, regardless of development costs.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, if I drop the price of my $10 app to 99 cents and don't sell 10 times more more copies, I would be making less revenue at a very low price. Certainly not the highest revenue. Any development costs are already sunk, and therefore irrelevant to the price. So I still sell my apps for a lot more than 99 cents because 10X more customers are not interested in buying them, but 1X are at the much higher price.
 
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