April App Store Report: Momentum Shifting To In-App Payments
The April edition of the WIP App Store Report is now available. The Report is a PDF version of a set of the data contained in our App Store Catalog here on the WIP site, along with some additional commentary in to the world of app stores. This month, we take a look at the interest that's sprouting around in-app purchases, seen by many as a big hope for developers to create solid app revenues.
As app stores mature and become more crowded, there’s a race to the bottom for prices of many mobile apps. While some premium games and branded apps are able to hold their purchase prices up somewhat, price competition for other apps remains very intense, particularly as more developers turn to an advertising-based revenue model.
For many apps -- particularly basic content-centric apps -- free replacements abound; if they don’t yet, they will. Many developers have seen their sales vanish into thin air overnight after a free competitor emerged, leading more and more to try and head off such...