Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 February 2009 03:52
IT Industry -
Market
Page 2 of 3
At least Pinch Media is
sharing a summary of the information distilled from 30 million downloads.
A much of it is really only of interest to developers (eg, how many downloads are needed to get onto the 'top' lists, the importance of timing price changes), but buyers might benefit from taking note of some of Pinch Media's findings.
It's probably no surprise that the usage of free applications drops quickly with time. If an app is free, there's no real barrier to giving it a try. After approximately three weeks, there's only a five percent chance that a free app will be used that day.
After three months, it's only one or two percent.
While usage initially holds up better for paid applications, there's not much in it, and the three-week and three-month figures are similar for both classes.
So before you pay for that app, consider that you probably won't use it next month and then decide if you're likely to get value for money.
Mind you, with average iPhone app prices being so low, it's not surprising that many people are prepared to take a chance on them.
There's a big downside in all of this for people that like free software - please
read on.
