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Nicholas Lovell
Home   >   Analysis and Opinion   >   Analysis   >   What price an iPhone app? 19% less than last year

What price an iPhone app? 19% less than last year

By on January 10, 2011

Analyst firm Distimo has released their latest report on mobile app stores.

Distimo ReportThey had widely trailed their finding that 34 of the top 100 grossing apps on the App Store were free to play with In App Purchases. Actually, the In App Purchases model contributed more than that: a further 15% of the top 100 grossing acts were paid apps with IAP on to, meaning that IAP contributed to 49 of the 100 winners.

More disturbingly for anyone trying to sell smartphone games is the ongoing downwards trend in average pricing. For the top 100 apps, all four stores that Distimo tracked saw declining price points:

  • iPhone: -19%
  • Blackberry: -24%
  • Android: -9%
  • Ovi: -61%

These two data points – falling average prices for paid apps and rising revenue from free apps with in app purchases – further cement my conviction that a successful smart phone developer needs to have an IAP strategy, and ideally will offer their product for free.

About Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas is the founder of Gamesbrief, a blog dedicated to the business of games. It aims to be informative, authoritative and above all helpful to developers grappling with business strategy. He is the author of a growing list of books about making money in the games industry and other digital media, including How to Publish a Game and Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games, and Penguin-published title The Curve: thecurveonline.com