Apple boasts that it has thousands and thousands and thousands of free and pay iPhone apps at its online App Store. But how many are actually downloaded by users? And how many of those are actually used?
Mobile apps developer PinchMedia has the surprising answer.
According to a recent Pinch survey of 30 million app downloads from the Apple App Store, only one in three are ever used more than a day or two before being left to gather dust. After 20 days, only five per cent of downloaded apps are still in use.
Pinch notes that the superannuation rate is even higher for free apps, which people may download on a whim, or out of curiosity, rather than because they have a specific need for them.
Overall, Pinch notes, only about ten percent of iPhone app titles enjoy any sort of lasting popularity and most of those are social networking site clients, movie listings interfaces and games.
Industry observers wonder whether Apple — which has been touting the vast selection of titles at it’s iPhone Apps Store as a major marketing point for its phones — shouldn’t rethink it’s advertising plan, now that this disappointing news about the longevity of the vast majority of apps is on the wire…
Evolving Squid
The truth is much simpler. At the end of the day, it’s a telephone – and not an especially good one. Lots of people have smart phones of various types, but how many apps does anyone really use? A couple of games to while away time at the airport, a web browser, a twitter client, and a profile app that can set the phone’s setting based on time and location?
And all the apps in the world won’t make a lick of difference if the device is not good at its most basic function: being a telephone.
Evolving Octopus
Dear Evolving Squid
That’s funny. Last time I checked, my iPhone hasn’t had a problem “being a telephone” since I’ve made the switch from my Blackberry last year. I’m able to hold conversations over the device as a telephone should. What device were you talking about? Either you’ve never had an iPhone or you live in a desolate part of United States where there is both a very low population and an extremely poor cellphone signal
You can’t underestimate the usefulness of certain apps. I use quite a lot of them, actually. Not because they’re there for my whim, but because they’re just that useful. I turn my iPhone into a wireless hard-drive for any PC, Mac or laptop by using an app. I manage and check my bank account and monthly budget simultaneously in real-time using an app. I use my converter app to pretty much convert any known unit (comes in handy for foreign money trades). My dictionary/thesaurus/crossword-solver/anagram-finder app pretty much saves me more than once in a blue moon. I use an app to find any movie theaters in a six mile radius from my GPS location, get directions to and check movietimes AND reviews based off rottentomatoes.com all from one small app. I’ve got a photo-editing app that pretty much a simple version of photoshop to edit my mobile pics before I upload them to social networking sites (all of which have their own app to upload video taken from my phone if I wanted to). I’ve got an app that keeps track of my workout routines and exercises that graph my progress and goals. I have an app that finds the nearest train station based on my position when I stay in NY, and shows exactly which trains to hop off and hop on to get to my desired location without any confusion from figuring out maps. I even have a stupid little coin toss app that I use when I can’t come to a decision and leave it to fate, only to find that I am without a physical coin. And the one important thing that has me absolutely sold on an iPhone, is the app I frequently use when I’m away on business to remotely control my home computer and laptop from my hotel. The software literally shares the screen from either my desktop or laptop and shows it on my phone for me to control. I fire up isohunt and limewire on my desktop from my iPhone and start downloading movies and MP3’s galore so that they would be all done downloading by the time I got home. I even use the app to remote control my office computer to tie up any last minute changes I might have wanted to do, right from a bbq at a friends house. I don’t know ANY other phone that can do this with such ease and grace.
So I suppose it’s subjective… A “useful” app is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. I’ve managed to find several apps that make certain aspects of my life easier to manage and experience.
.
Abbe
Dear Evolving Squid
That's funny. Last time I checked, my iPhone hasn't had a problem "being a telephone" since I've made the switch from my Blackberry last year. I'm able to hold conversations over the device as a telephone should. What device were you talking about? Either you've never had an iPhone or you live in a desolate part of United States where there is both a very low population and an extremely poor cellphone signal
You can't underestimate the usefulness of certain apps. I use quite a lot of them, actually. Not because they're there for my whim, but because they're just that useful. I turn my iPhone into a wireless hard-drive for any PC, Mac or laptop by using an app. I manage and check my bank account and monthly budget simultaneously in real-time using an app. I use my converter app to pretty much convert any known unit (comes in handy for foreign money trades). My dictionary/thesaurus/crossword-solver/anagram-finder app pretty much saves me more tyan once in a blue moon. I use an app to find any movie theaters in a six mile radius from my GPS location, get directions to and check movietimes AND reviews based off rottentomatoes.com all from one small app. I've got a photo-editing app that pretty much a simple version of photoshop to edit my mobile pics before I upload them to social networking sites (all of which have their own app to upload video taken from my phone if I wanted to). I've got an app that keeps track of my workout routines and exercises that graph my progress and goals. I have an app that finds the nearest train station based on my position when I stay in NY, and shows exactly which trains to hop off and hop on to get to my desired location without any confusion from figuring out maps. I even have a stupid little coin toss app that I use when I can't come to a decision ahd leave it to fate, only to find that I am without a physical coin. And the one important thing that has me absolutely sold on an iPhone, is the app I frequently use when I'm away on business to remotely control my home computer and laptop from my hotel. The software literally shares the screen from either my desktop or laptop and shows it on my phone for me to control. I fire up isohunt and limewire on my desktop from my iPhone and start downloading movies and MP3's galore so that they would be all done downloading by the time I got home. I even use the app to remote control my office computer to tie up any last minute changes I might have wanted to do, right from a bbq at a friends house. I don't know ANY other phone that can do this with such ease and grace.
So I suppose it's subjective… A "useful" app is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. I've managed to find several apps that make certain aspects of my life easier to manage and experience.
.;