Mobile Application Pricing Tactics Changing in Future
Mobile Application Developers to More Offer Free Mobile Applications with Add-On Features
A majority of individuals who own a Smartphone such as the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile 7 or Blackberry have at least one or two mobile applications on their mobile device by default. Whether it is the pre-installed YouTube mobile application or a recently downloaded mobile gaming application such as Angry Birds, chances are these and many more mobile applications are available or already installed onto ones Smartphone. Mobile Devices which were previously used solely for the purpose of conducting phone calls are now turning into handheld computers with millions of mobile applications available for its users ranging anywhere from gaming mobile applications to heath & fitness applications. With so many mobile applications available to users (it is estimated that there are over 2 million mobile applications throughout varies mobile application marketplaces currently), mobile application developers often wonder how profitable it is for them to create a mobile application that will succeed in certain mobile marketplaces such as Apple’s iTune’s Mobile Application Marketplace or Android’s platform development Marketplace.
A study recently conducted by a mobile application monitoring company released reports in early 2011 that stated that the top 300 free mobile applications available in the United States generated an average of up to 300 million downloads per day in December 2010. At the same time, the number of paid mobile application downloads per month was only an average of 350,000 downloads a day; a considerable drop-off from 300 million downloads for free mobile applications. The disparity between free mobile applications and paid mobile application downloads can clearly be linked to the fact that many Smartphone users prefer to download a free mobile application, try it out and see how it works for them compared to having to pay for a mobile application and not know if it will be good or not.
Mobile Application Developer are starting to notice these trends in the mobile application industry and are now changing their tactics in order to continue to generate revenues from their mobile applications. These mobile application developers are now shifting their revenue-generating methods by developing mobile applications that have “in-app purchases” or “ad-supported” features in addition to the “free” version of the mobile application users can download. The free version of the mobile application comes with all the basic features the specific mobile application has to offer but users can also have the option of paying an extra fee to get additional features/benefits of the mobile application which is not available on the free version. For example, if an individual were to download a mobile gaming application for free, he may only have access to the first 5 levels of the game but if he pays for an “in-app purchase” then he can play all 10 levels of the mobile gaming application.
The “freemium” mobile application model seems to be a win-win for both consumers and mobile application developers since consumers now get the opportunity to try a mobile application out for free and mobile application developers still have an opportunity to generate revenue if consumers enjoy the mobile application and decide to pay a short price to upgrade their specific mobile application. At the same time, consumers will be glad to know that the price to purchase an “ad-supported” or “in-app” will be much cheaper compared to when consumers had to pay full price for mobile applications. It seems as though Mobile Application Developers and Consumers have found a mutual ground where both the developers and mobile application users will be happy and content with their mobile application downloads. As long mobile application developers do not try getting greedy by increasing prices for their mobile applications in the future, the mobile application industry is expected to continue to grow for years to come.