Paying Apple for iPhone apps has little appeal
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Only 36% of respondents to MarketingWeek.co.uk’s latest poll are willing to pay for an iPhone app from Apple’s App Store.
Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has developed more than 100,000 apps, making the brand’s App Store the largest applications outlet in the world.
The apps for iPhones and iPods are divided into 20 categories, including games, business, news, sport, health, reference and travel.
Brands and marketers have tapped into the trend, with free offerings, such as VisitBritain’s app for movie locations in the UK and those being offered by newspaper publishers.
As of this month, App Store users have downloaded well over 3 billion apps but, according to MarketingWeek.co.uk’s latest poll, 63.6% of respondents would not pay to download an app.
However, the remaining 36.4% of respondents have splashed out to download at least one app for their Apple device.
The Central Office of Information (COI), the UK’ biggest advertiser, has called for industry bodies to offer guidelines on advertising in mobile apps as the format becomes increasingly popular with leading brands worldwide.
The success of Apple’s App Store has prompted competitors to launch their own alternatives. The most noticeable of these competitors is the Nokia Ovi store.
However, this may change with the launch of Google Nexus One - a direct competitor to the iPhone.
Have you paid to download one of the thousands of iPhone apps on offer?
Readers' comments (3)
Anonymous | Thu, 7 Jan 2010 2:33 pm
Your question is "Have you paid to download one of the thousands of iPhone apps on offer?"
If you don't own an iPhone, then you're going to answer "No", aren't you? Without basing your results on iPhone users/owners, what's the point of presenting the data? It's utterly meaningless
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branwell johnson | Thu, 7 Jan 2010 3:53 pm
Hi - we live and learn. The online weekly poll is similar to that held by other business and consumer magazines on their websites as a quick snapshot of a trend. I agree the question should have been phrased "If you are an iPhone owner have you ..."We can only hope that non-iPhone owners saw the illogicality of the question and decided not to answer.
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igmorrison.com | Wed, 5 May 2010 8:38 pm
Not one to uphold stereotypes, but being a thrifty Scot, I want to know the apps I'm buying'll give me true stand-out value with so many free ones out there.
I paid for The Guardian app (which is amazing), but several of the free ones could have easily snuck in a nominal charge...
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