The latest data from Canalys shows that mobile app downloads climbed 11% in the first quarter of 2013 (over the previous quarter). Mobile apps continue to present an amazing growth market that keeps right on growing at a furious pace.
According to Canalys report, the world’s big four app stores generated a whopping $2.2 billion in revenue from 13.4 billion mobile application downloads in the first quarter of 2013.
While Google and Apple dominate the mobile market in terms of devices, Apple’s iTunes App Store has the largest percentage of revenue, 74%, when looking at the numbers for the first quarter of this year. On the other side of the coin, Google Play, was able to generate a majority, 51%, of all mobile app downloads.
App Interrogator dug into these numbers a bit more and found that Apple’s iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry World enjoyed a 9% increase in revenue from paid applications, in-app purchases and paid subscriptions when compared to the previous quarter.
According to research, native mobile apps are set to become the focus of mobile marketing efforts for retail businesses.
According to recent research by Flurry, users are spending a great deal more of their time with mobile devices interacting with apps than with the mobile web (by a 4 to 1 margin). This study was closely followed by a second study with research by Artisan that indicates that retail executives have put a priority on investing in native mobile apps as a top item for 2013.
Artisan’s survey of 200 retail marketing execs found that almost 75% strongly agree or agree that investing in a native mobile apps is one of their top three priorities for this year. Additionally, about 66% of these execs believe that investment in native apps is a better bet than investment in mobile web sites and 71% believe that native mobile apps will become the number 1 consumer touch point during the upcoming years.
Clearly native mobile apps are poised to step even more into the spotlight than they have already been in the past few years and we are seeing the market develop in productive ways as the industry matures.
A new report from Xtreme Labs states that many retail brands are missing the boat on the mobile app opportunity. They say that 30% have no mobile apps available to users and that with retail brands offering mobile apps, many are being scored low by shoppers. This offers a wide open space for savvy businesses to jump in a secure additional market-share with quality mobile applications for iPhone, Android and tablets.
While it is quite amazing that 30% of big name retailers don’t have mobile apps, it is equally amazing that those that do are getting a large number of complaints. Apps like this just tell users to go somewhere else to do their shopping. A well designed and developed iPhone application or Android application will keep users in your store.
According to Xtreme Labs data, mobile applications for the Top 100 Retail Brands averaged merely 2.9 out of 5 stars for iOS apps and fared even worse in the Android environment rating just 2.2 out of 5 stars.
Their data shows some great information for brands looking to build an app for their brand. Shoppers are looking for mobile apps to augment their in-store shopping experiences and these mobile apps need to work without crashing. A surprising 33% say app crashes of big retailer applications are an issue with Android apps and 23 percent state the same thing with iPhone applications. Additionally, consumers are looking for better features and better design.
But beyond just developing a better mobile app experience, users need to keep in mind where users will be using these apps. Consumers are using these apps and mobile web sites in-store and are increasingly shopping at stores that offer free WiFi over those that do not offer WiFi connectivity.
Looking at current trends and apps that are scoring well, there is a huge opportunity for savvy retails to augment their users shopping experiences and grab additional market-share with carefully designed mobile applications that include quality development.