iPhone 4S was a big part in mobile app downloads after launch

A mobile app user acquisition platform called Fiksu Inc, published a report that found a huge spike in mobile app downloads days after the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S.  According to the report, mobile app downloads were up 70 percent during the weekend the Apple iPhone 4S launched and they were also up around 40 percent in the days after the launch weekend.  Micah Adler, CEO at Fiksu, said “As predicted, October was a frenzied month; the availability of the iPhone 4S weekend launch caused an unprecedented surge in app downloads, providing great opportunity in volume for mobile advertisers.”  He also went on to say, “For mobile marketers seeking a window of extreme growth regardless of cost, the iPhone 4S launch presented a bonanza to secure large volumes of new users. But for those seeking to maximize value and ROI, the best bet was to resist the temptation to join the initial rush.”

The company measures fluctuations in the competition rank for all the apps store each month and checks the cost to acquire a loyal user, figuring the numbers help app developers check their performance based on industry averages.  The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index measures the average aggregate daily download of the Top 200 free iPhone apps.  That index was said to have increased overall by 29 percent to a record high of 4.91 million apps downloads in October.  Typically the index will measure the download of new apps, but with a new device being released, the index will also check on apps being downloaded by those that just upgraded from a previous version of the iPhone.  With that factor in place, the net download of new apps came in around the 4.5 million mark.

During the weekend of the iPhone 4S launch the marketing cost of apps was very high, but started to fall afterwards as the cost of traffic become less expensive.  By the end of the month the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index came to about $1.47.  Developers that took advantage of the post-launch decreases saw a 12 percent decrease in the cost of a loyal user, or 17 cents, when compared to the highest loyal user cost of $1.64 in all of September.