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While I agree that the apps market is a huge new thing, I really don't think it is going to continue to take off with no end in sight. We are in unprecedented t

by chapel 16y ago

While I agree that the apps market is a huge new thing, I really don't think it is going to continue to take off with no end in sight. We are in unprecedented times, and I think looking at any prior history really doesn't do it justice. But the notion that apps are taking over the internet is somewhat backwards, internet adoption as a whole is up as well, and fervently increasing. The big change here is that more and more people are adopting smart phones, and smart phones happen to be app focused. Once the web on the phone is even better, e.g. when companies can build 1:1 web:app experiences, you will see less apps. On a side note, the whole iOS explosion is going to tail off, there are only so many people that buy apps, and it is not a majority that push that market. I think when you compare iOS to Android app purchase rates, you find iOS in a screaming lead if all things else were equal. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I feel it is more related to who the people buying the devices are. The people buying Androids (the massive amounts now) aren't nerds/geeks like everyone seems to think. No, they are regular people that would have got a feature phone but jumped into the Android platform. Where as iOS users are usually people that have been using smartphones for a while, or even iPod Touches that upgraded to the phone experience.

muhfuhkuh 16y ago
"On a side note, the whole iOS explosion is going to tail off, there are only so many people that buy apps, and it is not a majority that push that market." Last admob stats survey says 50% of iOS users bought at least 1 paid app a month. "No, they are regular people that would have got a feature phone but jumped into the Android platform." And, those people won't buy a 99 cent game or utility app? Somehow I doubt that. I think if anything, it's a psychological barrier that prevents them. Back in 1996, we didn't trust the web. We heard these crazy stories about hackers being able to blow up your monitor by just sending you a file, and some having their whole identity completely wiped out like in "The Net" with Sandra Bullock. As such, ecommerce wasn't really that big in those days. Fast forward to today, where Amazon is galactically large and people only go to the store to physically touch a product before buying it on Amazon or Zappos or Newegg. The same is going to happen to smartphones and app stores. Once google checkout is seamless enough to purchase as easily as the App store, you can possibly see 50% of Android users purchasing an app a month. And, no matter how you slice it, 50% in this space is a BIG number.
ugh 16y ago
I’m not sure whether you are right about iOS and Android demographics. I think that first of all, both Apple and Android manufacturers are selling way too many devices for nerds to be any significant proportion of the market. Neither iOS nor Android seem very nerdy to me. I would even go so far as to argue that the demographics for both platforms are probably very similar.

by chapel 16y ago

muhfuhkuh 16y ago

"On a side note, the whole iOS explosion is going to tail off, there are only so many people that buy apps, and it is not a majority that push that market." Last admob stats survey says 50% of iOS users bought at least 1 paid app a month. "No, they are regular people that would have got a feature phone but jumped into the Android platform." And, those people won't buy a 99 cent game or utility app? Somehow I doubt that. I think if anything, it's a psychological barrier that prevents them. Back in 1996, we didn't trust the web. We heard these crazy stories about hackers being able to blow up your monitor by just sending you a file, and some having their whole identity completely wiped out like in "The Net" with Sandra Bullock. As such, ecommerce wasn't really that big in those days. Fast forward to today, where Amazon is galactically large and people only go to the store to physically touch a product before buying it on Amazon or Zappos or Newegg. The same is going to happen to smartphones and app stores. Once google checkout is seamless enough to purchase as easily as the App store, you can possibly see 50% of Android users purchasing an app a month. And, no matter how you slice it, 50% in this space is a BIG number.

ugh 16y ago

I’m not sure whether you are right about iOS and Android demographics. I think that first of all, both Apple and Android manufacturers are selling way too many devices for nerds to be any significant proportion of the market. Neither iOS nor Android seem very nerdy to me. I would even go so far as to argue that the demographics for both platforms are probably very similar.