The most popular app store has hit the 15 billion download mark. Apple iOS App Store is still the most popular and new numbers out today show that iOS downloads will climb 61 percent through 2011. On the flip side, the average price of an app has also climbed another 14 percent. The 15 billion downloads have come from over 200 million iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users. That is roughly about 75 downloads per user. The report says that by the end of 2011 each user will average about 81 apps downloaded. In 2010 each user had only about 50 apps downloaded.
With more devices that can download apps, it helps that Apple’s App Store has a large number of tested apps available. Apple’s iOS is leading in popularity with users and the numbers are showing that more users are downloading apps just to get extra features on their phones or tablets. The 14 percent rise in average app price is opposite of the 18 percent decline that hit the app store in all over 2010. Some say this could point towards developers creating better apps that require payment to cover increased cost, or that the popularity is causing developers to gouge the iOS users.
According to Apple and the numbers they reported, 82 percent of applications are free to download and only 18 percent of the apps are paid. The average selling price for the 18 percent of paid apps is about $1.44. The iPad apps in the store are appearing a little more expensive and that is what might be running the prices up. An iPad app can be downloaded for an average price of $6.32 and that is for the Top 10 apps in the App Store. That price is up 36 percent from last year, while at the same time; average cost of Top 100 iPhone apps is only $1.61.
Even though the price for apps available for download in the App Store is on the rise, Apple is really not profiting all that much. Reports show that even though Apple takes 30 percent of app sales, it only amounts to about 1 percent of total revenue for Apple. Obviously, Apple is making more money on the devices they sell and the App Store helps to drive sales for those devices. Experts say the numbers will likely cycle around as the developers come to write more apps.
