[...] the downloads are happening at a rapid pace, but what about actual usage, GigaOM’s Om Malik wonders? Malik says he has downloaded some three dozen apps but only uses four on a daily basis. He has [...]

[...] GigaOM beruft sich auf ein Interview mit Steve Jobs im Wallstreet Journal und nennt folgende [...]

[...] downloads appear red hot, GigaOM questions how much the apps are actually being used. Citing findings from Pinch Media, sample data [...]

[...] maybe the frenzy will slow down after the novelty wears off. GigaOm’s Om Malik reports that he has downloaded “nearly three dozen apps” but finds only four–Twinkle, [...]

[...] maybe the frenzy will slow down after the novelty wears off. GigaOm’s Om Malik reports that he has downloaded “nearly three dozen apps” but finds only four–Twinkle, [...]

[...] I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your [...]

[...] I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your [...]

[...] way you cut it, that’s a big number, even if, as Gigaom’s Om Malik suggests, people aren’t actually using most of those applications. Even more interesting for us, [...]

[...] iPhone Apps by the Numbers Apple is fond of quantifying the success of its products and services in terms of great big numbers, and Steve Jobs has told the Wall Street Journal that in the iPhone’s first month as a platform for third-party applications, 60 million programs have been downloaded from iTunes’ App Store, generating $1 million a day in sales. I don’t have a current figure for the total number of first- and second-generation iPhones in the world, but that’s unquestionably a bunch of apps per iPhone. Small wonder that T-Mobile says it’s dumping the traditional cell-phone company “deck” approach to marketing applications to phone owners in favor of something more similar to Apple’s approach–and betcha that other phone manufacturers and service providers will follow suit. Read more at: GigaOM [...]

[...] way you cut it, that’s a big number, even if, as Gigaom’s Om Malik suggests, people aren’t actually using most of those applications. Even more interesting for us, [...]

[...] こういうアプリが、かなり早い段階で臨界点に達すると思っているのは僕だけではない。その時点でiPhoneと言ってもコンピュータと結局は同じで、キラーアプリはメールとブラウザだということがはっきりするだろう。 [...]

[...] seen TechCrunch and GigaOm] [...]

[...] maybe the frenzy will slow down after the novelty wears off. GigaOm’s Om Malik reports that he has downloaded “nearly three dozen apps” but finds only four–Twinkle, [...]

[...] I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your [...]

[...] platform. If Android phones are delayed, Google’s going to miss the boat, writes Arik Hesseldahl.Om Malik isn’t sure big downloads translate into big usage. One expert said people use iPhone applications [...]

[...] GigaOm’s Om Malik managed to talk to new iPhone analytics company Pinch Media to find lemons in the lemonade: Using [...]

[...] way you cut it, that’s a big number, even if, as Gigaom’s Om Malik suggests, people aren’t actually using most of those applications. Even more interesting for [...]

[...] probably “curiosity” downloads especially the free ones. Om “GigaOm” Malik asks the question… The big question about the Apps store is whether downloads are going translate [...]

[...] Changing topics — it’s one month to the day since iPhone 2.0 was announced.  Over the weekend Steve Jobs announced that iPhone users have installed 60 million applications in the first month.  There have never been download numbers like that from any application ever.  Jobs says it changes software.  But in the same breath we hear that the actual sales figures are around $30 million.  $.50 average per application?  So should we consider this a success? [...]

[...] Application Fatigue/Saturation? Posted on August 12, 2008 by swarmsync I noticed a blog post by Om Malik which was followed up by one on Techcrunch which if I am reading them correctly seemed [...]

[...] Some of my favorites that I’m regularly using: [...]

[...] few contrarian viewpoints have emerged from venerable online sources such as TechCrunch and GigaOm, (adding to last week’s analysis of a similar question: have we jumped the shark with iPhone [...]

[...] to believe that apps will continue to improve and build upon the 3G iPhone capabilities, there are critics that believe that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. I know in my own personal day to day usage — the ones I use (starting with the [...]

[...] Om Malik consulted Greg Yardley of Pinch Media (which does “analytics” for iPhone Apps) who says that, based on the few developers they track (translation: very small sampling), less than 20% of users return to an App at least once a day, and of them, the average time spent on an App is 5 minutes. [...]

[...] Om Malik consulted Greg Yardley of Pinch Media (which does “analytics” for iPhone Apps) who says that, based on the few developers they track (translation: very small sampling), less than 20% of users return to an App at least once a day, and of them, the average time spent on an App is 5 minutes. [...]

[...] Gigaom’s Om Malik, who says he has downloaded three dozen apps but only likes four of them, adds some [...]

[...] I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your [...]

[...] Om Malik consulted Greg Yardley of Pinch Media (which tracks user behavior and provides statics based on that behavior for iPhone Apps) who says that, based on their sampling (which they themselves say currently consists of only a few developers), less than 20% of users return to an App at least once a day, and of them, the average time spent on an App is 5 minutes. [...]

[...] read TechCrunch and GigaOm, you’d think that the iTunes App Store is crashing and burning. Both articles have used the [...]

[...] iPhone App Downloads Are Up. What About Their Usage?, GigaOM, Om Malik [...]

[...] that 60 million iPhone apps had been downloaded, averaging 2 million per day. While there are questions of whether these stratospheric download numbers translate to equally impressive usage numbers, some [...]

[...] I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your [...]

[...] downloaded will be the free ones. Of the 60 million application downloads in the first month it is speculated that about 1 in 10 were [...]

[...] Om Malik consulted Greg Yardley of Pinch Media (which does “analytics” for iPhone Apps) who says that, based on the few developers they track (translation: very small sampling), less than 20% of users return to an App at least once a day, and of them, the average time spent on an App is 5 minutes. [...]

[...] September 8, 2008 at 9:54 PM PT Comments (0) The iPhone Apps Store is turning out to be a hit not just for Apple but also for dozens of others who have been selling their apps on the store. Others who have been giving their applications for [...]

[...] iPhone Apps Store is turning out to be a hit not just for Apple but also for dozens of others who have been selling their apps on the store. Others who have been giving their applications for [...]

[...] And it said that on a normalized basis there are more games apps than anything else in both the iPhone app store and the G1 app market. Slightly more interesting to know: Of the 62 apps offered up that first day, [...]

[...] there’s like a quadrillion more iPhone’s in the world and it’s been shown that iPhone users download new apps like crazy app downloading fiends? Because I could have sworn that that was an actual reason a [...]

disagree with you here Om

How many apps do you use every day on your Mac? I’d wager less than 10. Yet like me you probably have at least 100 apps in your app folder. The same thing happens on the iPhone. I use about 7 apps daily but have lots more which will prove useful from time to time.

“…the pace of downloads is slowing, which is expected because the early rush is behind us.”

Nonsense.

There are millions and millions of NEW users to be added to the iPhone phenomenon, just think XMas and 70+ new countries. What do you think they’ll do with the App Store?

The narrow mindedness and short focus of some is remarkable.

Om,

You’re wrong. How many applications do you use on your laptop daily? How many of those are specialty apps for once a week/month when you truly need it? See my point?

Even though I too have a ton of apps on my iPhone, Mail and Safari are used 99% of the time. But those other apps are great for when you really need them.

Let’s face it, the apps were purchased because the whole platform is new. I don’t use ANY of them. This was a one time deal and until compelling apps come out (Loopt the exception, although more users needed), it will remain a one time deal. The phone is too big, the apps too limited.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of Apps and most suck. I haven’t spent too much money, which is fortunate since many pay Apps do not offer free trials (Lite) and there’s no return option as far as I can tell, regardless of how many times an App crashes.

There is a lot of truth in what Mr. Om says. He is talking about his experience and generalizing it to the rest of us and I also feel its true. As an iPhone app developer I would say its a good new market. The pent up demand in the first two weeks was like a dam burst. Now things are getting down to day to day business. Early apps were quick and sometimes dirty, those will continue but we should start to see more thoughtful, larger and more complex apps emerging.

Of course as I walk around NYC I won’t use the iPhone as much as sitting down at my Mac but neither do I use the iPhone as little as I did my last cell phone which served to make calls and thats it.

after reading this I am seriously thinking of developing a game or 2 for an iPhone.

Weird, every person that claims to disagree, actually agrees with the article, and provides further evidence proving his claim.

People do not use most of the apps they download.

Om, great article.

Would you agree that one of the biggest problems is that developers have been sidetracked with either recreating the desktop experience or scratching the surface (no pun intended) of the most obvious UI enhancements (think Koi pond)? Shouldn’t they be thinking about really ground-breaking things that can emerge from location based awareness?

The concern about how often various iPhone apps are used after they are downloaded is valuable but the statement that Apple is making, that developers are making, & more importantly that users are making is that there is a need & a demand to use the mobile phone for things other than making phone calls & sending text messages. The mobile phone has become the new personal computer & as network speeds continue to improve & users are educated on the power of the existing applications & the many applications that are to come it’s going to change the way we all live. The way we conduct business, process transactions, & communicate is going to change!

Om’s information is interesting, but not compelling. The question isn’t how often a user is now using one of the downloaded iPhone apps, but whether that user (and others) will download (and pay for) apps in the future. First, the best apps are yet to come because the platform is new and investors have only now began to invest in developers. Second, I might buy 5 apps and only use 1, but that one could easily justify my purchase of the other 4. Third, I may only use an app once a week for 1 minute (the tipping apps are a good example), but the value makes me keep looking for more useful apps, and will allow the developer to up-sell and cross-sell. Fourth, the free apps, combined with the smorgasbord of paid apps, and the novelty of having them available, drive sales of the iPhone. That in turn will increase the user base, attract more developers, and more investors. That will continue will drive sales of the iPhone, and Mac computers.

Finally, I would like to know how quickly people tire of their paid ring tones, and yet drove it past $2B as a market.

Respectfully, I’d like to disagree with the conclusions (rather than the points made) in this article.

Is it surprising that ~5 minute usage for apps is occurring? Not really - it’s a mobile device, after all. I tend to fire up Super Monkey Ball when I have a few minutes to kill in a waiting room. Or I use the Jott app when I need to…uh…jott off a quick reminder. These are not “bad” use cases, they are PERFECT.

And yes, I’ve downloaded quite a few apps that I’ve then deleted. I realized some (Facebook) aren’t really necessary to my own *personal* daily use, while Jott has become invaluable.

The problem with these assessments about the apps is that it’s being written in the “I don’t do X, therefore X sucks” perspective. That simply doesn’t fly.

I wish I could use some of the apps I have downloaded, but the damn iPhone crashes so often when running any of them it is not really possible for more than a few minutes.

I would echo AdamE’s sentiments. The iPhone 2.0 platform just rolled out, and as a fanatical user of Pandora (free), Crash Bandicot ($9.99), Instaper (free), MotionX Poker ($3.99) and Trism ($4.99), I can say that the capabilities of the platform TODAY are really pretty damn sweet relative to anything out there that calls itself mobile. Plus, the nature of App Store is such that it makes impulse buy really easy, which reduces the friction to user adoption of new apps.

To argue otherwise is somewhat to argue that mobile computing as a platform won’t be compelling beside web, email and phone, which seems just silly when you consider all of the venues that mobile is at least a companion to what you are doing - work, out and about, home office, living room, etc.

Put another way, one could argue that iPhone 2.0 is akin at this stage to where Windows 3.0 was in setting the stage for the rise of the PC as a mainstream computing device.

If that’s a fair comparison, it should be clear that this is the tip of a really big, compelling iceberg. The hardware, software, service functions, tools, developer acumen, marketing and consumer awareness will only get better.

Here’s a post I wrote assessing the experience to date from a user perspective:

iPhone 2.0 - What it Means to be Mobile
(link)

Check it out if interested.

Mark

Are you serious?

Averages don’t mean anything. Who’s to say there aren’t 1000 different conversion utilities or distraction apps and only 100 useful, extended use applications (IM programs, Email programs, blog software, photo managers, video records, etc.)?

This “news” is meaningless.

I think the quality of apps will only get better with time …

(link)

Om, I hope you can do a write up on cracked apple Apps and how it will affect the sales in the Apple App Store. There have been communities and torrents sharing apps illegally and distributing them on their blogs, and other various places. Just doing a Google search brings you up with a lot of cracked Apple apps. Developers won’t be happy when they see this! Hopefully Apple finds a way to patch the cracks.

Don’t forget about the 100+ billion users that will be added when more countries are selling the iPhone. The will want to load apps and they will want to develop apps for their languages and/or cultures. When you first started using a computer, how many applications did you have and use?

Seems like most are in agreement that the best apps are yet to come. Aside from the iPhone 2.0 platform just rolling in, is it merely a blind belief that the apps keep getting better with time or just that a lot of the apps now are , uhm, crap.

Anyway, maybe it’s still a period of just checking all the things that work well with iPhone and that true followers will soon form around particular apps.

Best.
alain
mor.ph

It’s going to be interesting to see where the balance of free vs paid apps finally lies. I’ve got to think that it can only follow the route of the web where free is king. This is a much more interesting debate though for two reasons: a) the iPhone SDK allows you to create truly robust applications more similar to desk top apps than web apps.
b) Apple has made it just as easy for the consumer to get paid apps as they have free apps.
These are both strong arguments for a continued amount of high paid app sales.