Study: Free iPhone Apps Quickly Gather Dust
8:12 am, February 20th, 2009, Ed Sutherland
A new study highlights what could be the iPhone version of attention-deficit disorder. A day after a free iPhone app is downloaded, there’s only a 20 percent chance it will used.
Possibly more disconcerting for Apple and iPhone developers: just 5 percent of free apps are used one month after downloaded – and nearly no free app is used after three months , according to data compiled by Pinch Media.
The tracking data was announced at an iPhone Developers Meetup in New York by Pinch Media CEO Greg Yardley.
Paid applications have an advantage over free applications, according to Yardley’s talk.
Free ad-supported iPhone apps need to earn $8.75 per thousand to equal the revenue from paid apps. However, such free iPhone apps garner between $0.50 and $2 per CPM, according to Pinch Media.
“Unless there’s something inherent about the app that screems ‘free,’ sell it,” Yardley said.
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
The sentence “just 5 percent of free apps are used one month after downloaded – and nearly no free app is used after three months” isn’t quite accurate.
What that slide shows is the percentage of people who use an application X days after their initial download. So you could say “just 5 percent of users use a free app on the date one month after their initial download.” An entirely different 5 percent of users might use the app on the date one month and a day after their initial download.
The falloff is still pretty dramatic – it definitely surprised me.
Greg Yardley, on February 20th, 2009 at 9:12 am
In the case of many free apps, the lack of use clearly underlines why it was free in the first place: Its a piece of junk. There are a lot of ‘cool’ apps out there that get downloaded purely because they are free ex. iBeers. However I personally like to download free apps mainly on a trial basis, and if I happen to find it useful I will keep it but otherwise its deleted. This is a great way to find new apps that you might not have otherwise discovered and unlock new functionality in your iPhone. Here is a list of free apps that I use daily:
-VNC lite
-TwitterFon
-WiFinder (Wifi checker)
-Google Earth
-Aerolite Free
-Cooliris
-AIM
Jeremy, on February 20th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Exactly. The store is filled with crap, if something is free then people will try it, but if its junk people will just discard it. The age old saying still applies:
‘You get what you pay for’.
Steve, on February 21st, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I’m not sure where else to place this comment, but here goes…
I’m intrigued by the considerable disparity between the ethos that has long underlaid much Mac sofware development; a kind of benevolent idealism that we might perceive in freeware apps such as NetNewsWire, Skim etc., and the rcrass ‘make-a-quick-buck’ or ‘promote your brand the trendy iPhone way’ culture that has very quickly grown up around the App Store…
They’re like polar opposites… much of the latter leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
I can’t see much of the old ‘Think Different’ spirit here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/02/20/first-look-shooter/#comments
Something for you guys to ponder maybe?
Peace,
Belengazi
Belengazi, on February 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 am
Agreed,
this also reflects on the standards apple applies to apps when they are allowed to be sold on the app store. There are a lot of useful apps not getting in, and the majority of what is getting in is garbage.
Apple firstly needs to reduce restrictions on apps, and secondly make a category in the app store labeled: ‘16 and Under’ or ‘Waste of Memory/time’
This is one of the reasons ive decided to jailbreak my itouch, to get some of those good apps.
Jeremy, on February 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 am