In-App Purchases Make Up 76 Percent of All Income on iPhones in the U.S.

By: Jeff Stewart  |   March 30th, 2013   |   Apple, iOS, Mobile Apps, News, Smartphones

App analytics firm Distimo recently issued a new study which states that Apple’s US App Store’s popularity in terms of in-app purchases is simply extraordinary. It could be judged from the fact that through in-app purchases the Apple App Store was able to make a record 76 percent of all income for iPhone in the United States during February. The growth looks predestined as back in January 2012 in-app purchases was able to generate roughly 53 percent proceeds in the App Store for Apple’s flagship smartphone. So just after a year this revenue of in-app purchases in the App Store has shown a commendable growth of 23 percent and interestingly the growth is still pointing in the upward direction. However, the surprising thing that the study of Distimo revealed was the revenue generation of in-app purchases in Asian countries, which was found even better than the US market, as the proceeds in China, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong stands at 90 percent. That is 14 percent more profit than the well established market of the US. According to iPhoneinCanada, “the app business model spiced with in-app purchase is the scenario that seems to monetize the apps developers submit into the App Store.”

 

“The all-time revenues per download are shown in the table, and shows there are large differences per app. The ARPD ranges from $0.37 for What’s the Word? to $7.04 for Rage of Bahamut. Clash of Clans, the top grossing app on iPhone in the US in February, generated $4.66 per download on average to date. Candy Crush Saga, the second most grossing app for iPhone, still generates less revenue per download than Clash of Clans though.

 

Of course, it should be noted that Candy Crush Saga has had less time to monetize as it has been released about four months after Clash of Clans. Hay Day, Supercell’s second hit app generated $3.29 per download on iPhone in the US. Rage of Bahamut generated most revenue per download of top these top grossing apps and MARVEL War of Heroes, another top Mobage app, generated $2.93 per download on average on iPhone in the US.”

 

It is pretty evident from the analysis given above that in contrast to paid apps, freemium apps are generating less revenue, while paid apps applications along with in-app purchases have made more profit than paid apps that are devoid of in-app purchases. So clearly in-app purchase model is working well for the developers.

 

Source: iPhoneinCanada