As mobile application markets continue to explode, it is difficult to keep track of all the changing tendencies of the global app landscape. Perusing through recent AppMarket Reports from Priori, we've come up with some data on US, UK and Central European AppStore & Google Play activity that mobile developers and designers alike can use to gain an overview of recent trends. The areas in focus are:
- The most promising AppStore & Google Play app categories;
- Recent monetization trends; the adoption rate of apps with in-app purchases among publishers & consumers;
- App categories that have the most activity on in-app purchases;
- The most sold in-app purchase items with prices;
- The most successful developers.
Most popular app categories
Whether you want to go up against current stars in the most promising categories, or choose to make your app shine in a less competitive one, this information can be helpful for your planning strategy. The following categories held the largest portion of popular apps in December, 2013 according to Priori's data:
Chart 1.1 Categories with the largest number of top free & paid apps, AppStore, the USA. The % of Downloads value tells how many downloads are generated by top apps in given category in proportion to total downloads generated by those apps across all categories. E.g. if all apps in Priori's Top Apps generated 1.000.000 downloads, and 500.000 of these were generated by games, then the Games value will be 50%.
Chart 1.2 Categories with the largest number of top free & paid apps, Google Play, the USA.
Chart 1.3 Categories with the largest number of top free & paid apps, AppStore, Europe.
Chart 1.4 Categories with the largest number of top free & paid apps, Google Play, Europe.
Monetization trends
Monetization types & prices
The revenue model shows no drastic changes. There are still four main monetization types:
- Free Apps
- Paid Apps: the pay-before-download model
- Free + In-App Purchase: free app with the option of purchasing virtual goods from within the app
- Paid + In-App Purchase: app monetized by a combination of pay-before-download and the option of purchasing virtual goods from within the app
Chart 2.1 Monetization type ratio, AppStore, the USA. Apps with In-App Purchase as % of the Total Number of Apps: 10.03%.
Chart 2.2 Range of top app prices, AppStore, Europe. Apps with In-App Purchase as % of the Total Number of Apps: 5.75%.
In-app purchase
The following charts show which app categories have the most activity on in-app purchases:
Chart 3.1 Categories with the largest number of apps with in-app purchase (IAP), AppStore, the USA, the UK, Europe.
The following in-app purchase items are sold the most in the USA AppStore:
Table 1.1 Top downloaded free apps (all games) & the most sold IAP items, AppStore, the USA.
The tables below reveal the in-app purchase item prices.
Table 2.1 In-app purchase item prices, AppStore, free apps.
Table 2.2 In-app purchase item prices, AppStore, paid apps.
Who are the most successful new publishers?
‘Learning from the best’ is a universal practice and it works just fine when it comes to mobile app development, too. It’s not about stealing, but observing and re-creating a UI, functional approach and software solution that your audience needs and likes better than anyone else’s.
Here’s a list of top developers whose work may inspire you to come up with a fresh look or new idea:
- Fingersoft
- EA
- Gameloft
- Supercell
- Glu
- Storm8 (TeamLava)
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