CCS Insight and Distimo Launch App VU Global
App Downloads and Revenue Surge in First Three Months of 2012
New jointly developed product from CCS Insight and Distimo reveals in-app purchases now account for 60 percent of revenue among the 200 highest-grossing applications for Apple and Android
LONDON and AMSTERDAM — CCS Insight (http://www.ccsinsight.com), a major telecommunications analyst company, and Distimo (http://www.distimo.com), a globally recognized leader in app store analytics, today announced findings from a new product, App VU Global. It reveals that demand for apps showed no sign of letting up in the period after Christmas, a key sales period for smartphones and tablets. Developed collaboratively between CCS Insight and Distimo, App VU Global combines extensive data with incisive analysis of the performance of software stores and the global apps market. This unique product identifies important trends and makes detailed comparisons across all major app stores.
Analysis in App VU Global confirms that Apple remains the dominant market leader in terms of downloads, catalogue size and revenue. The iPhone and iPad app stores generated daily revenue of $3.34 million and $2.07 million respectively from the top 200 highest-grossing applications in January 2012. Google Play (formerly Android Market) saw a 31 percent rise in daily revenue in January 2012, to $679,000 across smartphones and tablets for the top 200 highest-grossing apps. Other platforms are racing to secure third position, with Amazon and Microsoft recording the biggest growth in catalogue size.
"The strong growth in downloads and revenue for Apple and Android comes at a time when consumers typically rein back their spending after Christmas", said Paolo Pescatore, Director of Applications and Content at CCS Insight.
A surge of in-app purchases was behind much of the growth. Buying extra levels or features within a game or application is rapidly becoming the principal form of spending in this area. In-app purchases accounted for more than 60 percent of revenue across the iPad, iPhone and Google stores in January 2012. The revenue generated by applications that feature in-apps increased in February to 73 percent for the top 200 highest-grossing Android and iPad applications, and a staggering 79 percent for the top 200 iPhone apps.
However, it is not all good news. Preliminary figures for February show a 27 percent drop in iPad downloads as people waited for the new iPad. This resulted in a $250,000 decrease for the top 200 highest-grossing applications compared with January's daily revenue figure. "We believe this is no more than a short-term blip, but it clearly shows that many buyers of the new iPad already own an original iPad or an iPad2. It's a real demonstration of the loyalty of Apple customers", commented Mr Pescatore.
The App VU Global service comprises quarterly face-to-face presentations and supporting data in Excel format. Presentations provide specific implications and recommendations, and the service is complemented by bundled enquiry time with CCS Insight analysts and factual, transactional app market data supplied by Distimo.
"We believe Distimo's factual app-market data, in combination with CCS Insight's experience with analysing global industry trends and excellent team of analysts, provides a unique product that can help many organizations define and steer their content strategy," said Vincent Hoogsteder, CEO and co-founder of Distimo.
"Now, for the first time, a comprehensive understanding of which apps are succeeding in which sectors and in which parts of the world — and why — is available to any company wanting to capitalise on this rapidly evolving market," added Mr Pescatore.
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About App VU Global
App VU Global analysis is based on transactional app market data collected by Distimo that covers over 1 billion downloads each quarter. App VU Global incorporates data from over 50 countries across the globe. For more information please see: http://www.ccsinsight.com/our-services/databases/1488-app-vu. To receive a sample copy of App VU Global, please contact CCS Insight.
About CCS Insight
CCS Insight is a global telecommunications analyst company. It provides comprehensive services that are tailored to meet the needs of individual clients, helping them make sense of the connected world. Follow us on Twitter or learn more at http://www.ccsinsight.com.
About Distimo
Distimo is the innovative app store analytics company built to solve the challenges created by a widely fragmented app store marketplace filled with equally fragmented information and statistics. Founded in 2009, Distimo is a privately held company based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Follow us on Twitter or learn more at http://www.distimo.com.
