Distimo can always be relied upon for some great analysis at the end of a month but their latest report on all of 2010 shows some interesting trends. 2010 was a big year for app stores and RIM has been making some good headway with 18,000+ apps now in App World. Still I find those numbers very deceiving since they include hundreds of redundant apps that do the same thing or perform a simple function like eBooks. My favorite stat was that the on a whole App World prices have declined about 24% on average over the year and the top 100 apps in App World have also declined 24%. That decline was only topped by Nokia’s Ovi App Store.
The other interesting trend was seeing that the growth in App World was fueled by psudo apps with the Reference & eBooks category seeing the highest growth at 733% compared to the category average of 268% growth. The runner up was themes at 653% growth which is nice to see. If anything that should show RIM how popular themes are to make sure they are included in the PlayBook. Here is the full breakdown and comparison with other app stores:
The top ranking free applications are no surprise with RIM dominating the rankings but the paid applications still sadden me. We still have a memory booster taking second place and a flashlight app in third.
All in all RIM saw some pretty impressive app store growth with triple digit app growth. Still as you can see in the report comparing where the growth came from in all these app stores most of them are not quality apps. That is why I think comparing the number of apps in app stores is futile and it is more about quality apps available.
What do you think of the report results? You can check out the full PDF copy of the report at this link on Distimo’s website.
barrist ( View Profile) - Posts: 1186
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 6:17 AM EST
i never really understood the race to get 100,000 or a million apps in the store. its just a number and like you mentioned, most apps are crap that noone ever downloads. i guess its perception
DavidB ( View Profile) - Posts: 1791
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 8:47 AM EST
What, distmo doesn’t rank “date” connections made via app store?
Some interesting trends for sure. I’m betting the decline in sales price on App World has more to do with RIM lower the minimum price from $2.99 to $.99 than anything else.
barrist ( View Profile) - Posts: 1186
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 8:55 AM EST
as a non appworld user, i didn’t even know they had the minimum at 2.99! what was the justification for that!
DavidB ( View Profile) - Posts: 1791
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 10:04 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9630
RIM never formally said that I know. $2.99 was the minimum price when App World first launched. We suspected RIM looked at App Store and saw all the crapware at $.99 and figured if they set a higher minimum they could keep away a lot of the garbage.
barrist ( View Profile) - Posts: 1186
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 11:22 AM EST
ah i see… looking at some of the apps on appworld, still alot of crapware hah
CraZy88 ( View Profile) - Posts: 61
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 9:21 AM EST
Great writeup, as usual. Like you, I think it is also pathetic to see mem booster and flashlight at the top. I always wonder what it should be, though? A game? Nope. Blackberry devices would explode if yiu tried playing a decent game on there. Maybe a business aol of the sorts? Nope. I’ve noticed withy reports that a majority of purchases stem from either the torch or lower end curve models. Mostly latter where only Beeny-boppers have those phones mostly, because they are inexpensive, or 3rd world countries. So….what app should be at the top? I guess themes. Haha! Who’s to say…
jforce ( View Profile) - Posts: 1365
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 10:25 AM EST
I’ve been impressed with all the improvements RIM has made on App World. With user ID’s it is so much easier to upgrade software and switch devices.
barrist ( View Profile) - Posts: 1186
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 11:23 AM EST
Yeah this is one of the reasons im thinking of actually hopping onto appworld for the first time. i’ve heard the new beta is working quite well, and being able to just redownload all the apps in one shot after an upgrade is appealing
captainbdsc ( View Profile) - Posts: 179
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 1:28 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9700 | OS 6.0.0.424
I imagine we will see many more entertainment type apps added when the PlayBook is out of the gate. Of course I don’t know if all apps whether for BB or PB should be counted together…
citystars41 ( View Profile) - Posts: 92
Posted: January 12, 2011 at 1:50 PM EST
even still, they have a lot of apps that do something so easy and they charge for it, ie restart your phone