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Fortune reports on a new note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who for some time has been keeping tabs on the performance of Apple's App Store using calculations of download rates and other metrics against number of devices sold. According to Munster, iOS device owners are increasing their usage of the App Store in 2011, downloading more apps as the average sales price for paid apps has rebounded after dropping last year.
- More apps: The average iOS device owner will download 83 apps in 2011 vs. 51 in 2010, a 61% increase year over year. "Smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones," Munster writes, "and iOS has the leading app ecosystem."
- More expensive apps: The ASP (average selling price) per app is rebounding. ASPs are up 14% y/y in 20111 vs. an 18% decline in 2010. "After the initial race to the bottom in App Store pricing," says Munster, "we are seeing users pay up to add features and games to their iOS devices."
Munster reports that 82% of App Store activity is from free apps, while the 18% of downloads that are paid apps carry an average selling price of $1.44. Munster notes that the recent increase in average selling price seems to be driven by the iPad, which in general sees higher average app prices than the iPhone and iPod touch.
Apple last week announced that the App Store had reached 15 billion downloads since its inception three years ago. Still, App Store revenue represents only about 1% of Apple's overall revenue and is viewed primarily as a driver of Apple's hardware sales.
Top Rated Comments
I'd use the app store if there were a way to put apps on my wife's mac other than my creating an account on it, which is ridiculous.
You realize that with most software licensing and protection schemes this is hard to do at all with traditional activation schemes.
My point being... you're upset about something that's restricted under most methods. :)
The App Store would make a lot more money if they had a multi-user licensing model in place or corp purchase model. If Apple did this we could save millions of dollars a year relying on third party purchasing companies and purchasing staff. As it stands now we can't even use the App Store due to licensing.
We budget in the millions for software per year across our company.
On another note I still haven't bought anything from the Mac App store.
If your "company" actually has that kind of budget, they would know that Apple offers mass deploying / licensing for enterprise.
The best apps. The most apps. And devs actually make money. :eek: