The vast majority of augmented reality ARKit apps released so far have been games, according to a breakdown release by analytics firm Sensor Tower Intelligence.
Combing over the AR apps released since iOS 11 launched on September 19, reveals that games represent around 35 percent of ARKit-only apps worldwide, followed by utilities (19 percent), other entertainment (11 percent), education (7 percent), photo and video apps (6 percent), and lifestyle (5 percent). The “other” category — for those apps which don’t fall into any of these genres — accounts for the remaining 8 percent.
Sensor Tower found that, in all, ARKit apps have been installed more than three million times worldwide since iOS 11 launched on September 19. Drilling down on the popular games category, the firm found that mobile games have also accounted for 53 percent of ARKit-only app downloads and 62 percent of revenue since launch, making them the largest portion of this emerging category so far.
Given that Pokémon Go, the app which introduced most people to augmented reality, raked in almost $1 billion in 2016, despite being available for only half of the year, it makes sense that other developers would want to follow that business model.
Among the top AR games are strategy title The Machines, puzzle game Amon, and conceptual titles like Pigeon Panic! AR and AR Runner. Other non game titles that are popular include Ikea Place, AR MeasureKit, and Vito Technology’s impressive tech demo Monster Park – Dino World.
Not yet a mature ecosystem
As anyone who remembers the launch of the App Store in 2008 will know, of course, the early spate of titles don’t necessarily reflect what a more mature ecosystem will look like. Tim Cook said as much this week, when he told an interviewer to:
“Think back to 2008, when the App Store went live. There was the initial round of apps and people looked at them and said, ‘This is not anything, mobile apps are not going to take off.’ And then step by step things start to move. And it is sort of a curve, it was just exponential – and now you couldn’t imagine your life without apps. Your health is on one app, your financials, your shopping, your news, your entertainment – it’s everything. AR is like that. It will be that dramatic.”
Have you downloaded any AR apps so far? What have you found to be most useful? Leave your comments below.
Source: Sensor Tower
