Skyhook Wireless, released its July report on trends in location-aware apps
from Apple's App Store, Google's Android Marketplace, Blackberry App
World, Nokia's Ovi Store, and the Palm App Catalog.
The report shows the evolution of LBS app pricing in the
two longest running stores, the Android Marketplace and Apple App
Store. In both stores, $0.99 is the most popular paid category, and
only a handful of apps sell for $6.00 to $8.99. Some location apps sell
for $9.99 or higher in both stores. Most of these high-priced apps are
navigation or sports-related like golf and sailing.
The most popular types of LBS apps is travel, followed by Navigation, Social Networking, Lifestyle and Sports/Fitness.
In the first half of 2009 there was an abnormal spike of hundreds of
$0.99 apps, due to the release of several batches of "Bulk Apps." These
are template-based apps sold at the same price point which have the
same look and feel but swap out content. For example, one developer
sells over 850 travel apps based on the same template, but switches out
content based on specific locations like Paris or Costa Rica. Around
1/3 of Apple LBS apps are these mass-produced local search or travel
guide apps. There are over 50,000 App Store apps, and this massive
number is often referenced as a sign of the tremendous growth of the
App Store. But, it is important to understand that bulk apps make up
much of this volume.
"The release of Bulk Apps is a monetization strategy. These
developers aim to sell many apps at low price points and low volumes,
rather than millions of downloads of one killer app," said Kate Imbach,
director of marketing and developer programs at Skyhook Wireless.
"There is not yet a well-understood path to monetization for mobile
apps. Developers are experimenting with various price points, mobile
advertising, and virtual goods. Creating a catalog of Bulk Apps is
another new and unproven marketing method for mobile apps. As
developers experiment with these strategies, it will be interesting to
see if Bulk Apps gain traction."
The report also reveals that Nokia's Ovi Store has the smallest
ratio of LBS apps to total apps. Only 2% of Ovi apps use location. This
is surprising considering Nokia's demonstrated interest and massive
financial commitment to the location space, including the $8.1 billion
acquisition of Navteq.
The full report is available today at http://www.locationrevolution.com/stats/skyhookjulyreport.pdf.