What's your usage of free vs. paid apps?
When I read reviews of free apps in tech publications, they often have a line to the effect, "There is paid advertising which is/is not intrusive. I would gladly pay a dollar to turn the ads off".
There is a line of thought that subscriber payment can support the app developer and also provides an alternate business model to ad-funded apps. It is an extension of the ad-free model of paid television - subscribe to the channel and we will turn off the ads.
In practice though, it does not work that way for consumers, or for businesses.
I presume that in the course of a customer life cycle, showing ads will earn more revenue than the $1 or 2 that I pay one time to remove them. The scale increases exponentially when we talk of hugely popular free apps with millions of downloads.
Also, strangely, I do not mind it if mobile apps display ads. I do not find them obtrusive, I don't worry about how much data they consume and I would not find it a value proposition to pay purely to turn them off.
This time-scaled infographic of the iOS App Store published by Appsfire and featured on TUAW reveals that app developers and consumers seem to share this view. The report by Appsfire reveals that the percentage of paid apps has shrunk from 74% in 2008 to 34% in 2012. Simultaneously, as the number of apps has increased, gaining visibility and traction has become much more of a challenge. Few apps make it to the top ranks and the majority never gain traction, revealing that app discovery, let alone trial, is a huge problem for apps today.
There are several ways to subsidise apps - free trial of a basic version with paid upgrade for more features and functionality (the freemium model), in-app purchases, and of course, ads.
I did a check of my app downloads on my iPad and Android phone and I discovered the following trend:
1. Currently, I have 180 apps across my phone and iPad of which 20 are paid apps - roughly 11%.
2. The first 50 or so apps on both devices were purely free ones as I was not prepared to experiment with paid apps initially. Thus in the first 6 months, I did not spend on any free apps.
3. The first apps I bought were games (all of these were upgrades from a free to a paid version like Angry Birds Seasons HD, Shanghai, Cut The Rope and Rush Hour), demonstrating that the freemium model certainly worked for me where games were concerned. In all these cases, there was also a desire to support the developer because these games gave me a lot of enjoyment.
4. The most expensive apps I spent on were 'productivity/ tools' - like Quick Office, a Feed Reader, ROM tools etc.. Interestingly, I bought most of these based on reviews and 'sight blind' (without a free trial) and ratings/user recommendations played a very important role. In fact, in many cases, I was using a free solution which was not satisfactory and instead of upgrading to a paid solution from the same developer I went straight to a new, paid app. It seems that my purchase process for these was similar to that for gadgets - read, compare and select the best one based on my need. I did not purchase impulsively and it took me time to reach a stage where I was ready to buy expensive apps, although 'expensive' is a relative term - at most, these were a couple of dollars more than the games. But it does present an interesting cycle of evolution - from when I started using my mobile devices as a toy - till when they became an integral and important tool.
Sources : TUAW, Appsfire blog
There is a line of thought that subscriber payment can support the app developer and also provides an alternate business model to ad-funded apps. It is an extension of the ad-free model of paid television - subscribe to the channel and we will turn off the ads.
In practice though, it does not work that way for consumers, or for businesses.
I presume that in the course of a customer life cycle, showing ads will earn more revenue than the $1 or 2 that I pay one time to remove them. The scale increases exponentially when we talk of hugely popular free apps with millions of downloads.
Also, strangely, I do not mind it if mobile apps display ads. I do not find them obtrusive, I don't worry about how much data they consume and I would not find it a value proposition to pay purely to turn them off.
This time-scaled infographic of the iOS App Store published by Appsfire and featured on TUAW reveals that app developers and consumers seem to share this view. The report by Appsfire reveals that the percentage of paid apps has shrunk from 74% in 2008 to 34% in 2012. Simultaneously, as the number of apps has increased, gaining visibility and traction has become much more of a challenge. Few apps make it to the top ranks and the majority never gain traction, revealing that app discovery, let alone trial, is a huge problem for apps today.
There are several ways to subsidise apps - free trial of a basic version with paid upgrade for more features and functionality (the freemium model), in-app purchases, and of course, ads.
I did a check of my app downloads on my iPad and Android phone and I discovered the following trend:
1. Currently, I have 180 apps across my phone and iPad of which 20 are paid apps - roughly 11%.
2. The first 50 or so apps on both devices were purely free ones as I was not prepared to experiment with paid apps initially. Thus in the first 6 months, I did not spend on any free apps.
3. The first apps I bought were games (all of these were upgrades from a free to a paid version like Angry Birds Seasons HD, Shanghai, Cut The Rope and Rush Hour), demonstrating that the freemium model certainly worked for me where games were concerned. In all these cases, there was also a desire to support the developer because these games gave me a lot of enjoyment.
4. The most expensive apps I spent on were 'productivity/ tools' - like Quick Office, a Feed Reader, ROM tools etc.. Interestingly, I bought most of these based on reviews and 'sight blind' (without a free trial) and ratings/user recommendations played a very important role. In fact, in many cases, I was using a free solution which was not satisfactory and instead of upgrading to a paid solution from the same developer I went straight to a new, paid app. It seems that my purchase process for these was similar to that for gadgets - read, compare and select the best one based on my need. I did not purchase impulsively and it took me time to reach a stage where I was ready to buy expensive apps, although 'expensive' is a relative term - at most, these were a couple of dollars more than the games. But it does present an interesting cycle of evolution - from when I started using my mobile devices as a toy - till when they became an integral and important tool.
Sources : TUAW, Appsfire blog
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ReplyDeleteThere are many of us who do not mind loosening our purse strings for the few applications that deserve longevity. In our self interest, we pay for those applications to let the developer take up further work improving functionality, polishing it and releasing stuff periodically. Those of us who can afford to pay should do so gladly for the benefit of the larger population. The most i spent was on two applications namely 'Things' a sophisticated To-Do List manager and the Oxford English Dictionary on my iPhone 4S.
ReplyDeleteHi Robert, thanks for commenting. Like you, I spend on apps where I appreciate the developers work and it personally makes a difference to me - one example was Mr. Reeder, a feed reader for iPad which is beautifully designed and a joy to use. Also spent on a lot of apps for my (rooted) Galaxy Nexus, which enabled me to enjoy the full potential of a rooted device. A couple of years ago, I was using a Samsung Wave running bada OS: an ecosystem that was painfully deprived of apps. I remember making a post about how I was ready to pay for apps that offered a basic functionality, like a browser, Facebook and Twitter widgets and even push mail. Today app stores on all major platforms give you a wide choice of free apps for all these basic activities. Over and above that, I guess one pays only for really well designed apps that really add utility - or fun - to your life.
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