Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Freeware, Developer, iPhone, App Store
Survey: Average iPhone user has spent $80 on apps
$80 on apps? I didn't think it was that much, but after going over estimates in my head, that sounds about right, actually. A survey of 1200 App Store customers estimates that we've spent about $80 on applications so far, with an average of about 65 applications per customer. There's a little weirdness in those figures though: they also say that 65% of the apps downloaded were free, and that the average app price was $1.56. There's some extra information hidden in there: if 65% of the apps are $0, and the average price is still up above $1, that means people are spending way more than $1 on the apps that they do buy. More research seems needed there.There's another surprising figure as well: of all the 1200 customers surveyed, altogether they only had about 15,000 unique apps on their iPhones. When you compare that to the latest figures of about 65,000 apps, that means you've got about 50,000 apps (definitely the majority) that are completely untouched by these customers. Of course, 1200 is a tiny sample when you're talking about the millions of iPhones sold overall, but if that is in fact a representative sample, that means that there are many, many more apps than people have actually downloaded and tried in iTunes.
Not hard to believe -- with iPhone developer numbers in the hundreds of thousands, tons of trashware on the store, and the relative ease it takes to crank out an app, it's no surprise that you've got way more apps than people interested in trying them. But then again, isn't that the way we want it?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bones3D said 7:19AM on 9-08-2009
Only $80?
Boy, have I overshot the curve on this one. My iPod Touch doesn't even have media files stored on it. (Also, what's the deal with that 9 page limit for app icons?!)
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sam said 8:09AM on 9-09-2009
I agree - Just looking at my first 2 pages I've spent >$200 (Netter Collection are $39 each)....
But I'm sure a lot of people have bought
Ty Dibble said 7:35AM on 9-08-2009
If my use is representitive, I have downloaded, tried and then discarded hundreds of apps. Some discarded apps cost me $$$, although just a few dollars. I have only a few available positions on the screen for new apps. My personal biggest problem is organization and convenience of finding the app of choice. Renaming, and hierarchical folders would be IMHO the next features to add to the ipod. I would make the rename function act like an alias/overlay so the app would retain it's "real" name for searching.
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Bensawsome said 11:45AM on 9-08-2009
I know! It's annoying as heck having a limit on the number of apps you can have. :( Why is it limited?! Wouldn't Apple want us to download more apps so they can make more money?!
Jindo Fox said 7:51AM on 9-08-2009
I'm probably an outlier then. I have 644 apps in my iTunes folder, and that's after discarding the free versions of stuff I bought. I desperately need some folders or other means of organizational functionality in iTunes. Being able to sort by publisher or category would do. The current method of managing apps is right out of the mid-1990s Palm OS.
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Jan Aagaard said 8:16AM on 9-08-2009
The average price is probably calculated as "average price of all non-free apps".
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Mike said 8:53AM on 9-08-2009
Exactly. The "Free" comment about driving down the average price was incorrect.
Ethan said 8:08AM on 9-08-2009
The survey is by Appfire, who you can register with to share your list of apps with the world, much like a last.fm list of artist that you can post on your favourite profile.
http://blog.appsfire.com/how-about-some-real-data-on-iphone-owners
As you can see, the survey is a pool of it's users, who must be far more into the app store than the average iPhone user if they want to actively share their collection. I think the average is probably far less. For starters, I know two iPod Touch users still on the original OS.
An interesting result in the survey though is that even in this sample, about 3/4 of the apps available are not installed on any devices. We know the app store is a tough market, and there's a lot of crap on there, but still, that's a big hole.
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Ryan Trevisol said 8:38AM on 9-08-2009
Bingo. I've spent *pages through his iPhone* $5, $3, $1 . . . . .
Nine Dollars.
I have Prowl, Rolando, and GPush.
I haven't been enough of a gamer on the iPhone to need to buy any games. To be honest, no game (other than Rolando) has kept me coming back to play. They either have some tragic flaw with the gameplay (wild west pinball), are gimmicky (I'm looking at you SkyFire), and/or come with a free version that you can use to get the quick kicks you want and play till you're sick of the game without paying anything.
Demos might help. Some games might be fun enough to play but I won't spend the money knowing I'll probably stop playing it in a week.
That's not to say that apps aren't important. Here's a list of apps that keep getting regular if not daily use:
ReQall
Firsclass Mobile
Twitterific
GoodReader
WeatherBug
Wikipanion
eBay
Shazam
Amazon.com
Craigsearch Free
Chase
Flixter
AP Mobile
Okay there's one more I paid for but I wish I could get my money back. Keynote Remote. Keynote Remote doesn't work on my work Wifi. Why? Because the dingbats have all the ports locked down even INSIDE the firewall. Brilliant. So I have to create an ad-hoc network on my Macbook, and connect to Ethernet, and hope it doesn't get confused as to which connection is providing internet.
I'm sure there are more cool apps out there but I don't have the time to wade through the App store, and every time I read a "best apps" post at a blog or website, it's full of games or apps I already have.
I went to the Apple store the other day to get Snow Leopard, and stopped at the iphones that are preloaded with apps. I've gotta say, there are a lot of really cool apps there, but I can't remember them, and many of them would be useless to me.
Like the incredible sign language translator app. That was unbelievable! Makes me want to make some deaf friends who also can't read.
I want a list of the apps Apple pre-loads on those iphones at the store.
wim said 8:40AM on 9-08-2009
the average price is largely increased by the few people who buy navigon or tomtom for $99,-
for me, i only paid for very few apps, the most of the do not serve their purpose or enhance my digital life enough to have me pay big $$
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Sabon said 1:37PM on 9-08-2009
or both as in my case.
SkydiverTilt said 8:22AM on 9-08-2009
+$600 for me....but that's how I roll!!!
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Josh said 9:38AM on 9-08-2009
Yeah, my rough estimates put spending around $600 as well. Its amazing if you think about it...the marketplace Apple has created...
Alex said 8:51AM on 9-08-2009
"...if 65% of the apps are $0, and the average price is still up above $1, that means people are spending way more than $1 on the apps that they do buy."
Assuming the $1.56 is the average price of *all* apps, not just paid ones, then the average people are spending on paid apps is $4.46.
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Onuralp said 9:47AM on 9-08-2009
Hmm, I've spent nothing - I get by with all the free apps.
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Ross said 9:48AM on 9-08-2009
I can't buy apps cause gift cards still don't let you buy them (Canada), and credit cards with a different address than their origin country don't get accepted on Apple, which is ridiculous cause Apple is the only company that has ever done that to me with that stupid credit card rule. So I currently have no way of buying apps and my phone is filled to the brim with "lite" and "free" versions of every single app, it really does suck.
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milkmage said 10:59AM on 9-08-2009
@ross - You live in Canada, but have a card issued by a US bank? Can't you use the US store?
I vaguely recall a similar problem with music (and we all know Apple doesn't care where the money comes from, limitations for music are mandated by the RIAA and equivalent bodies overseas). I wonder if the App store is subject to the same restrictions because of the way iTunes works for music and not because of the Apps. Are you able to purchase music (w/o giftcards)?
Ross said 11:09AM on 9-08-2009
Yup, I can get music and movies and everything else but not apps or iPod Touch updates. They're actually UK cards (where I originate from) and a Canadian address (where I currently live) and according to Apples terms, the card and the address both have to be from the same country. It's actually ridiculous, and I had the same opinion as you, I didn't think that Apple really cared where it's money was coming from, but apparently it does. I contacted Apple to get my iPhone replaced (long story short) and instead of paying for the $30 to get the quick replacement, he said that he'll waive the fee and contact somebody high up and see if there's a work around for the credit card situation. He's been the most helpful so far in my situation. Another Apple rep said to buy a prepaid credit card and then use it on the store, so before I went and bought one, I read the terms again and you're apparently not allowed to use prepaid credit cards either (gift credit cards, I think they called them). My sister is still stuck on iPhone OS 2.x (she's got the Touch) and we both can't buy apps. A real bummer.
Ross said 11:18AM on 9-08-2009
That Apple "iPhone specialist" just called me back and told me that it's a security feature that they implemented. So looks like I'm stuck with my free apps, lack of iPod updates and getting shouted at everytime I want something replaced cause I have no collateral to give them. Oh well, maybe it'll eventually change.
Rob Oakes said 10:12AM on 9-08-2009
Just a quick statistical note. 1200 people is not a tiny sample, regardless of how many iPhone customers their are out there. It might not be a representative sample, but it is more than possible to get a very good idea of what happens within a population with 1000 data points. In statistics, ensuring that a sample is both random and represents the underlying population is more important than the sheer volume of data collected. (Note: These are just general comments, I haven't read anything about how this survey was conducted and can't comment on if the conclusions are appropriate.)
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