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Just what is the Apple App Store?
When Apple says "There's an app for that", for the most part, they aren't kidding. (Well, unless you want a Google Voice app. Oddly, I haven't found one that manipulates RTF files either. Finding apps in the Apps Store is a hit and miss process. I may have just missed... a lot.) However, after reading various "Oh noes, the App Store is a horrible failure" articles yesterday, I wondered just what the App Store is. i.e., how much complaining about the App Store is legitimate and how much is "Yech! This meatloaf is a terrible key lime pie ala mode." Also, I was struggling with the denoument so, obviously, it was time to cat wax.
AppShopper has a view where you see all the changes to the App Store in time order. Looking at it this way, it's easy to bet the impression that the App Store is composed almost entirely of free and $0.99 junk apps. (BTW, I am not saying that all free and $0.99 apps are junk. I'm simply evoking Sturgeon's Law.) If cheap junk apps, then yeah, the App Store is kind of useless. That would mean there's lots of software, but little that anyone would find genuinely useful or entertaining. What little that is worthwhile is likely lost among all the dross. If really cheaps apps are the expectation, it's hard to justify spending the time and money to develop any app that's really good. (And can you get enough downloads of $0.99 apps to make money?)
AppSherpa has a view where you see apps ordered by cost. This way, you get a slightly different picture. Of the 60000 some apps, about 3500 cost $9.99 or more. About 15000 apps are free. I didn't get a chance to count the number of $0.99 apps. I figured out my denoument. I imagine it's some suitably large number though.
A few things struck me browsing through page after page of apps costing $9.99. It's not hard place most of them into one of two categories: books, or highly tailored niche applications.
There are a lot of books priced $9.99 or higher on the iTunes Apps Store. I wouldn't be surprised if they were either the most expensive version of those books or nearly so. In the few cases I checked, they were the most expensive electronic versions, approximately the cost of the hardcover sometimes. The reading experience had better be sublime.
To be fair, there are also dictionaries and other reference texts. In those cases, the iPhone version may be comparable in cost or cheaper. They are more like highly tailored niche applications. (I mean, I may end up buying most of the $9.99+ Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionaries on the App Store. They aren't for general consumption though. Most people don't need a CE/EC dictionary, much less one with an immense vocabulary.)
Most of the rest, especially the really expensive apps, are highly specialized apps. e.g., iRa Pro costs $899.99 and allows you to control remotely hundreds of surveillance video cameras. Tunic Guitar Pro costs $109.99 and allows you to tune your guitar to an accuracy of plus or minus 0.025 cents. (Note: 1 dollar equals a semitone.) For the most part, they are apps that most people don't want, but a select few will either need or find invaluable. (This, of course, justifies the price.)
Apple's lists which apps have been downloaded the most, not which apps have been the most profitable. It's not surprising that they're nearly always the really cheap apps. (Things by Cultured Code at $9.99 is a conspicuous exception.) There are more of them and they lend themselves to impulse purchase.
It's hard to know how the more expensive apps are doing. Personally, I hope they're profitable for two reasons. One, in order to stay a healthy platform, the Apps Store needs to sell high quality apps at a profit for their developers. Otherwise, I don't see why customers or developers would continue to bother to play their parts. Two, the notion that because the Apps Store aggregates all iPhone and iPod touch users, a highly specialized niche application can find enough customers to be profitable would be a cool, cool thing.
At this point, it's impossible to tell how things are working out. Despite the impression generated by Apple's lists, I don't think it's all free or incredibly cheap apps that are selling. Right now, the apps I'm really interested in buying are $9.99 or above. (Yes, I keep a list. On my iPhone, of course.)
Of course, whether it's possible to make a profit is the developers' perspective. From my viewpoint as a user, I've grown accustomed to trying out software before buying. Of course, you can't do that on the iPhone. (Yes, some apps have free "Lite" version, but that's a workaround at best.) Developers invariably put too little information on their website about their apps. Apple links each app back to its website. Having that website merely link back to the App Store is so missing the point. (PandaWords, I'm looking at you.) Lastly, it's surprisingly hard to find apps. I'm still coming across Chinese dictionaries and I've been looking for weeks now.
Ultimately, I do wonder how the App Store is really doing. Right now, there is definite range of prices and apps that, at least for a niche, justify their price. However, given how cumbersome it can be to find an app, and given how little Apple publicizes high value apps (i.e., a little more expensive, but worth it), it's not hard to think that the App Store is, or will become, solely a collection of the mostly worthless, or trivial. I hope that's not how it evolves.
AppShopper has a view where you see all the changes to the App Store in time order. Looking at it this way, it's easy to bet the impression that the App Store is composed almost entirely of free and $0.99 junk apps. (BTW, I am not saying that all free and $0.99 apps are junk. I'm simply evoking Sturgeon's Law.) If cheap junk apps, then yeah, the App Store is kind of useless. That would mean there's lots of software, but little that anyone would find genuinely useful or entertaining. What little that is worthwhile is likely lost among all the dross. If really cheaps apps are the expectation, it's hard to justify spending the time and money to develop any app that's really good. (And can you get enough downloads of $0.99 apps to make money?)
AppSherpa has a view where you see apps ordered by cost. This way, you get a slightly different picture. Of the 60000 some apps, about 3500 cost $9.99 or more. About 15000 apps are free. I didn't get a chance to count the number of $0.99 apps. I figured out my denoument. I imagine it's some suitably large number though.
A few things struck me browsing through page after page of apps costing $9.99. It's not hard place most of them into one of two categories: books, or highly tailored niche applications.
There are a lot of books priced $9.99 or higher on the iTunes Apps Store. I wouldn't be surprised if they were either the most expensive version of those books or nearly so. In the few cases I checked, they were the most expensive electronic versions, approximately the cost of the hardcover sometimes. The reading experience had better be sublime.
To be fair, there are also dictionaries and other reference texts. In those cases, the iPhone version may be comparable in cost or cheaper. They are more like highly tailored niche applications. (I mean, I may end up buying most of the $9.99+ Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionaries on the App Store. They aren't for general consumption though. Most people don't need a CE/EC dictionary, much less one with an immense vocabulary.)
Most of the rest, especially the really expensive apps, are highly specialized apps. e.g., iRa Pro costs $899.99 and allows you to control remotely hundreds of surveillance video cameras. Tunic Guitar Pro costs $109.99 and allows you to tune your guitar to an accuracy of plus or minus 0.025 cents. (Note: 1 dollar equals a semitone.) For the most part, they are apps that most people don't want, but a select few will either need or find invaluable. (This, of course, justifies the price.)
Apple's lists which apps have been downloaded the most, not which apps have been the most profitable. It's not surprising that they're nearly always the really cheap apps. (Things by Cultured Code at $9.99 is a conspicuous exception.) There are more of them and they lend themselves to impulse purchase.
It's hard to know how the more expensive apps are doing. Personally, I hope they're profitable for two reasons. One, in order to stay a healthy platform, the Apps Store needs to sell high quality apps at a profit for their developers. Otherwise, I don't see why customers or developers would continue to bother to play their parts. Two, the notion that because the Apps Store aggregates all iPhone and iPod touch users, a highly specialized niche application can find enough customers to be profitable would be a cool, cool thing.
At this point, it's impossible to tell how things are working out. Despite the impression generated by Apple's lists, I don't think it's all free or incredibly cheap apps that are selling. Right now, the apps I'm really interested in buying are $9.99 or above. (Yes, I keep a list. On my iPhone, of course.)
Of course, whether it's possible to make a profit is the developers' perspective. From my viewpoint as a user, I've grown accustomed to trying out software before buying. Of course, you can't do that on the iPhone. (Yes, some apps have free "Lite" version, but that's a workaround at best.) Developers invariably put too little information on their website about their apps. Apple links each app back to its website. Having that website merely link back to the App Store is so missing the point. (PandaWords, I'm looking at you.) Lastly, it's surprisingly hard to find apps. I'm still coming across Chinese dictionaries and I've been looking for weeks now.
Ultimately, I do wonder how the App Store is really doing. Right now, there is definite range of prices and apps that, at least for a niche, justify their price. However, given how cumbersome it can be to find an app, and given how little Apple publicizes high value apps (i.e., a little more expensive, but worth it), it's not hard to think that the App Store is, or will become, solely a collection of the mostly worthless, or trivial. I hope that's not how it evolves.