Making it big as an iPhone app is no easy task.
Users quickly lose interest in the applications they download and just as quickly spend less time with the apps they like.
This insight comes from Pinch Media, an iPhone advertising and analytic tools company.
Long term users often amount to 1% of app downloads, Pinch Media says
According to a presentation recently posted on the company’s Web site, an application that appears on the App Store’s top-100 list can expect 2.3 times more daily new users. Getting on Apple’s top-10 or top-25 lists has better results (an observation that is rather obvious).
But even then, users stop using applications pretty quickly. Long-term audiences usually amount to 1 percent of total downloads, Pinch Media says. Even paid applications see steep drops in long-term use.
(Note: sports-related apps are better at retaining short-term interest while entertainment-related apps hold users better over the long term.)
Equally disconcerting is that the time spent with applications declines rapidly. Usage declines by nearly a third in the first month to just under 5 minutes.
And should you want to make money from advertising…think again. Less than 5 percent of applications are suitable for advertising. The better rule of thumb is to charge for the software, says Pinch Media.
