Just 30 percent of people who buy an iPhone application actually use it the day after it was purchased, according to Pinch Media, which analyzed over 30 million downloads from Apple’s App Store. And the numbers plunge from there: after 20 days, less than 5 percent of those who downloaded an application are actively using it. The drop-off is worse for free applications.
Posts Tagged ‘app store’
Most iPhone Applications Go Unused
Saturday, February 21st, 2009Apple’s App Store Passes 20,000 App Mark
Thursday, February 12th, 2009According to tracking site Apptism, the App Store has passed the 20,000 app mark. The current count on the site reads 20,410 apps, but as site tracks both released and upcoming apps, the number may be a bit smaller—although only 10 apps are currently listed in the Previews section. Apple has yet to make an official announcement marking the occasion.
App Store Lessons: Taxes And App Store Earnings
Friday, January 30th, 2009If you’re waiting for Apple to send you a 1099 form for tax season, don’t. iTunes treats App Store earnings as commissions, not royalties. This means that you won’t be receiving a 1099 form in the mail for tax season and will need to report your own earnings and filing your own payments for any sums you have earned from App Store.
Many developers had erroneously assumed that since they had to fill out tax forms and submit their social security numbers/EIN as part of the App Store contract, Apple would be sending some kind of tax documentation at the end of the year. Instead, you will probably want to download your financial reports from iTunes Connect and use those figures for reporting your earnings. These figures are available by world region as month-by-month reports in a text-based, tab-delimited format.
New App Store Section For Premium Games?
Thursday, January 29th, 2009Apple may be planning to introduce a new section of the App Store dedicated to top-notch gaming titles in an effort to further solidify its multi-touch devices as the next big thing in handheld gaming. While putting more cash in the pockets of developers.
The new section will supposedly cater to games that sell for about $20, according to the blog PocketGamer.biz, which first reported the rumor.
The new section will be restricted to only games of large publishers, rather than titles created by smaller gaming developers that are already offered through the main App Store, the site said.
The App Store currently offers more than 1,500 games, which is more than the combined titles offered for Sony’s PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS, the two main competitors in the handheld gaming market. But some developers have complained that the open market place of the App Store and its Top 100 lists tend to reward cheaper but higher-volume applications.
Japanese Tax Forms Required For Full iTunes Store Income
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009After noticing that they weren’t receiving the expected amount of App Store revenue, Ecamm and Magnetism Studios went looking for the culprit. It turned out to be additional withholding by the Japanese government that they weren’t aware of.
When developers sell their applications on the iTunes Store, Apple will usually just take its 30 percent cut and pass the rest on to developers. As it turns out, though, that transaction becomes a bit more complicated when certain countries are involved. One such case was recently brought to light by Ecamm and Magnetism Studios, who noticed that they weren’t receiving as much revenue as expected from Japanese sales of their FileMagnet application. They were able to track down the culprit, though: Japanese tax forms.
After wading through the App Store’s sales reports and doing a bit of digging and a few currency conversions, the developers found that 20 percent of the revenue from Japanese sales was missing. As it turns out, the revenue was in the coffers of the Japanese government. According to Apple, a 20 percent withholding is applied unless developers submit tax forms to Japan’s National Tax Agency and the IRS.
App Store Downloads Surpass 500 Million
Friday, January 16th, 2009Apple has announced that the App store has achieved over 500 million downloads so far. The company in December launched past the 300 million mark, while apparently still gaining momentum through the holidays. The number of unique apps has also jumped significantly, rising from 10,000 titles to over 15,000 releases at this point in time.
The new numbers show an amazing increase in downloads from the App Store when compared with the old milestone.
Apple did not break these numbers down by free versus paid apps, but regardless, this is a significant new milestone for Apple.
App Store Is An Undeniable Hit
Sunday, December 14th, 2008Apple has announced that the App Store users have now downloaded more than 300 million applications, having passed the 200 million download mark only six weeks earlier. The App Store officially launched on July 11 alongside the iPhone 3G and iPhone OS 2.0.
The success of the App Store has not gone unnoticed by Apple’s rivals, and many have implemented similar stores. For Google’s Android platform, they have created the Android Market for distributing applications. Google is taking a less-restrictive approach to what can get in its store in an effort to lure developers who may feel Apple’s control is heavy-handed.
Research In Motion will also launch an online mobile app storefront in March 2009 for its Blackberry smartphones. With RIM’s store, content creators will be able to keep 80% of the revenue from any app sold, an increase from the 70% Apple gives developers.
Google Earth For iPhone and iPod touch Released
Monday, October 27th, 2008Google has announced a free download of their Google Earth software for iPhone 2.0. The long-awaited software allows users to view high resolution satellite imagery on their iPhone or iPod touch.
Apple’s Application Store Breaks 200 Million Downloads
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Since the July 11th opening of Apple’s App Store it has gone from zero to 200 million downloads. It now offers over 5,550 applications, and is available in 82 countries around the world. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has stated “We’ve never seen anything like this in our careers,” He also said that customers are now attracted to iPhone not only for its functionality and multi-touch user interface, but also its ability to add free games and applications.
Good News For iPhone Developers: Apple Drops NDA
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008Apple has been receiving well-deserved heavy criticism for its harsh Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for iPhone software developers. Due to the overwhelming pressure from the developer’s community Apple has announced that they have dropped the iPhone Non-Disclosure Agreement for released iPhone software.
A statement posted to the company’s iPhone developer website reads, “We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.”
It continues, “However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.” It is unclear exactly what Apple means by “unreleased software and features,” however, the NDA may continue to cover only pre-release Apple software, seeded to developers but not yet released to the public, while all features and nuances of publicly-available software would not be covered. Alternately, the NDA may continue to cover unreleased third-party software, which would create further issues for developers.