Early Warning Signs: iPhone Apps Might Not Be As Popular As Believed
from the people-don't-use-them dept
While the iPhone App Store is being used by some as an example of people willing to pay for software, people might want to wait before declaring the store a complete success. New research is coming out suggesting that many apps -- both paid and unpaid -- don't get much usage after they're purchased. The further out you go, the fewer and fewer apps people use. While this may mean that Apple and some lucky developers are making money from users who spend on apps they don't use, this should actually be an early warning that the App Store and the various apps in there aren't really delivering the value that users are expecting. That doesn't bode well for the long-term sustainability of the system. If people feel they're spending money on apps that don't have much value, they're going to be a lot less likely to come back later.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: apps, iphone, popularity
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Always Been True
Frankly, after a week with my iPhone, I would be more concerned that Apple had no f*cking clue what a device that was actually used for business or real life should include. I think that until Apple gets a real designer on board, the app store will be used to obtain apps that fill the gaps Apple left in its design.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Always Been True
That was always their intention. What I find disturbing is that you don't seem to see that. They intentionally provided "just a platform", and gave others the full capability to produce applications on top of that platform.
Why you're railing against this, I don't understand.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Missed the point, I think
But so what? People probably had fewer apps that went unused on the desktop platform because those were comparatively expensive. With the 'phone a lot of apps are free or a buck or two. So I am MUCH more likely to pay to try an app out even if it turns out that it wasn't that useful or interesting in the end.
But just because I have a higher percentage of "uninteresting" applications piling up on the phone there can be lots and lots of them until I get to the eighty bucks or so that a desktop app might have set me back. Plus, if I buy an uninteresting app from Company A I would be doubtful about getting another from the some company. But on the 'phone there are 1000's of developers and the taint of uninteresting doesn't necessarily go beyond the original app and that developer.
So, no, I don't think the momentum is likely to be killed by unused apps any more than the likelyhood that you'll stop buying cookies in the market if you bought one kind that you didn't care for. If you find you don't like Nabisco cookies you may stop buying them but may still consider Keebler.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Missed the point, I think
I also have a lot more apps than I actually use, but the apps I use the most on my phone are mostly 3rd party downloads.
Think of it more as a signal-to-noise ratio than an indicator of the success of all apps as a whole.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ron's part-right
As for the apps on my iPT: yeah, there are some I tried and dismissed, there are even a few I paid for that fall into that category. And there are apps I have that fall into disuse -- one doesn't feel like doing tanagrams or playing solitaire ALL the time.
And there are a few apps I leave on b/c some day Apple will allow an external keyboard to work with my iPT and then I'll have THE KILLER work-device in my pocket.
'til then, it's insanely useful and, with 32gb of space on it, loaded with apps that I MIGHT use if I felt like it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
PDA apps
This is just the same old thing on the new platform - people can't really tell until they get it on there and really use it whether it's going to work out or not.
There's nothing new under the sun...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Apple must be putting some mind control software on their products. That's the only possible explanation. I better get some lead shielding for my MacBook Pro.
There's already a much better distribution channel for useless apps: it's called "bittorrent". That way, if you find something useful, THEN you can pay for it.
In fact, I just downloaded Logic 8 that way. If it works the way I hope, I'll buy a copy. Otherwise, that's what the trash can is for.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cheap enough to buy on a whim
If you want to do something in a very particular way and there are ten apps that do it then it may be worth ten bucks to try them all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: GOLDEN SURPLUS! NATIONAL COMPUTER LIQUIDATION
Now, where's that C!a1is that I ordered last week?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not useful apps done by amatures = business apps
Still, it seems that Apple has a leg up and what they've been able to accomplish is at breakneck speed. I theorize there will be more professional apps that cater to business crowd in the future.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: GOLDEN SURPLUS! NATIONAL COMPUTER LIQUIDATION
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: GOLDEN SURPLUS! NATIONAL COMPUTER LIQUIDATION
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I have bought at least 8 apps that I don't use for the iPhone.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I no longer buy apps. I no longer need to.
What I have been able to do in only a few months was find applications that duplicated all the functionality I required from my old PDA on my iPhone and all for under $20. I now rarely buy an app, but not because the app store has proven worthless, but because it has proven it's worth.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ditto?
1. When applications are free or cost so little as to be trivial expenses, consumers will try more apps and forget more apps than they would otherwise. Consider video game demos, shareware applications that promise to streamline x process or fix y widget or boost z performance, and any number of 30-day trial programs that you desperately hope will solve your need.
At the end of the day, little has changed from the classic retail buy-and-return consumer. In this case, the cost to buy is so negligible that we substitute a delete for a return.
2. The free market will sort itself out. Poor execution will always exceed good execution, because ideas are cheap. If the market allows any execution of an idea to compete, there will always be more poor executions than good. Depending on the cost to the consumer, this can mean that more widgets lie unused in the basement than gadgets sit gleaming in the kitchen; but this does not mean the market has failed. Rather, the market and consumer are evolving together.
Of course, the App Store is not a truly free market, so evolution is somewhat confined and contrived. The App Store has evolved to meet consumer demands, and there (of yet) no reason to believe it will not continue to bend and bow to the wind of consumer whim. Should it not, the bow will break, and the consumer will fall into another market.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cheap
It helps if you're a little pickier about what you buy and do a little research before plunking down the money. Just to keep yourself honest.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Most of the apps I've downloaded were brilliant programs written by regular people trying to make the G1 work like it should have right out of the box. I wouldn't have paid for any of these programs in advance, because I wouldn't have had any idea how much each one would (or wouldn't) improve my G1.
I would like to pay for some of these free apps but can't figure out a way to do it. I have no plans on downloading anything that costs money in advance of using it. Also, the day that paid apps went online, an extraordinary amount of junk was suddenly clogging up the G1 marketplace. The fart program was a goldmine once - for the guy who wrote the app for the IPHONE, and now, there's three or four fart programs for sale on the G1.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Trying to Decide
But if people can browse the Internet from an iphone, why would they pay to download the same content? Unless I can make a silly monkey game out of the content, I'm not seeing the point of paying thousands to have someone create an app program from it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Trying to Decide
OK, two things here:
1. There's a lot of iPhone apps that aren't charged for. That's not to say that any investment in creating them is a waste of money - the apps could be an invaluable way to drive traffic to your site and retain repeat visitors to complement whatever way you currently have of recouping costs. Look at, for example, apps made by Bloomberg or Facebook - given away free of charge, but they keep people using those sites.
If there's anything that users would potentially pay for, I'd say it would be a nicely formatted, offline version of the dictionary that they can browse at their leisure without having to be online (remember "iPhone apps" also get installed on iPod Touches, which can only be online if the user is near a wifi point).
2. How is your site formatted? How does it appear on the iPhone? There are many examples of sites that look OK on a PC browser screen but horrible on an iPhone or similar small-factor screen. I suspect that your site is one of them at first glance. Therefore, while an iPhone app would be a good idea for people wishing to visit on the move, maybe your money would be better spend creating a special iPhone version of the site to be viewed through the small screen's browser.
IMHO (and I'm not an expert here), you need to look at your current users first. How many of them are already visiting through iPhones? Why not involve your users in the decision - ask them if they would want an app, and if so what price range they'd be willing to pay? Are there iPhone-specific features they'd be interested in (e.g. an offline version), or would they just be interested in seeing a nicely formatted layout on their screen?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Trying to Decide
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
all free
some apps are just plain junk. But who's complaining about an app that they didn't pay a cent for? I've paid 5-600 dollars for junk on my Windose PC and once the shrink wrap is busted good luck getting a refund.
ppl who complain about this delivery model are moroons
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
apss not popular
[ link to this | view in chronology ]