11 ms·

10 billion Android Market downloads and counting

89 points by nod 15y ago

psychedelicx 15y ago
Offtopic - Any idea how to make a graph like that (sure doesn't look like Excel!)?
- th0ma5 15y ago
  you could take that graph out of excel by cut & paste, this makes it WMF format I think on the clipboard? anyway, it is some kind of vector format, and then paste it into illustrator or inkscape or something. i'm sure open office can create clipboard data that is vector.
  - psychedelicx 15y ago
    Thanks! I'll try it in Inkscape.
vijayr 15y ago
why 10 cents? why not make those apps free, for those 10 days?
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- netrus 15y ago
  Because Android Market users more often download free apps than users of the AppStore. Google most likely intends to get people to enter their CC number, and to get used to pay for apps.
- hugoc 15y ago
  I can see google wanting to have your credit card number in file to ease future purchases ;)
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- ryandvm 15y ago
  My guess is $0.10 might be cheap enough to motivate people to jump the "pain in the ass" bar that is entering credit card data. The fact that Apple forces iTunes sign-up before you can use the iPhone gives paid iPhone apps a huge advantage over Android Market apps.
  - Kell 15y ago
    And it works... I just updated my Wallet account with my new credit card number. It's been months that I was like "Oh... no I'm not buying that 2$ app... I'm to lazy to update my credit card". And well, now I have 10 new great apps I bought for 1$ ! And ready to buy more. Damn... I'm being manipulated and actually liking it :-).
- tudorw 15y ago
  I believe if you make an app free on the Android market you cannot then go back to charging for that app, it is a one way trip.
- andrewpi 15y ago
  Paid apps are permanently associated with your Android Market account, unlike free apps.
ryandvm 15y ago
So... I'm curious to know what app market veterans think of this kind of thing. Are fire sales like these actually helpful for fledgling apps or is it really just a blip of sales and then back to business as usual? I often lament that Google won't let me temporarily drop my Radar Livepaper app to $0, but perhaps I'd be shooting myself in the foot by doing so.
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  It's hard to say in this instance, Google has historically been very hands-off when it comes to the Market. I think this is the first time they've explicitly done a sale like this; as opposed to devs operating on their own.
- alex_c 15y ago
  This stuff seems to work incredibly well on Steam - I don't see why it wouldn't help here. The big value isn't just the front-page promotion, it's also the time limited sale for a bargain price. I suspect the main effect in the long term will be to boost the app's ranking in its category (because of how many downloads it got) and in search results (based on downloads, active users, ratings, or whatever algorithms Google actually uses). Whether the app will manage to take advantage of that and hang in there, or will fade back to obscurity, will probably vary from app to app.
- dpcan 15y ago
  I've been selling for almost 2 years in the Android Market, have had millions of downloads of my free apps, and tens of thousands of paid app sales. P.S. I have not been invited into this special $0.10 club. I'm guessing because my apps don't scale well for tablets at the moment. Lowering my price in the Android Market has done nothing for me personally. Running a sale may increase the download rate, but it seems to even out or lose me money in the end. It doesn't increase enough to convince me to leave my apps at a lower price. HOWEVER, I feel that if I had the opportunity to go all the way down to, say, $0.25, I would get tons of sales. I probably won't run a sale again. The bottom line is that I make more money when my apps are priced higher even though I sell less copies. So, being that I'm in this as a business, and not a hobby, I have to stick with higher prices.
ghempton 15y ago
I wish you could actually price your apps at $.10
lini 15y ago
For a little perspective - the App Store passed 15 billion downloads back in July [1]. Google seems to be catching up. [1] https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/07Apples-App-Store-Downloads-Top-15-Billion.html https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/07Apples-App-Store-...
- bproper 15y ago
  Google will catch up, as it did in marketshare. But the cost of Google's open approach, and big gains in smartphone marketshare, is a corresponding growth in its malware, currently growing 4X faster than iOs. http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/05/android-malware-over-ios-12052011/ http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/05/android-malware-over-ios-...
- estel 15y ago
  In October they apparently updated this figure to 18 billion at a rate of 1 billion / month. http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/smartphoneapps/News/1079564/18_billion_apps_downloaded_from_the_app_store.html http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/smartphoneapps/New...
nod 15y ago
Personally, I think the 10-cent sale is brilliant. 10 cents motivates you to put in your credit card number if you haven't - and then the difference between 10 cents and 99 cents for other apps later is pretty trivial psychologically. I wonder if they are compensating these partners beyond the 10 cent price?
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  Google has to be giving them something out of their own pocket; unless they've got a special deal with their processors the $0.10 is being melted down for cigar cases at Visa and etc. before Google sees any of it.
  - bvdbijl 15y ago
    You should ask one of the devs whose app is being featured, don't know if Google allows them to answer though
- jcampbell1 15y ago
  I fully agree. Apple has externally boasted about how many apple accounts that have associated credit cards. I image they follow this number closely internally. I think Google is now starting to realize the importance of this metric. Google should make getting customers to pay something a priority for every product/division.
  - dagw 15y ago
    A much better approach might be to make a deal with the carriers and simply have app store purchases show up on your phone bill. This way they get around the whole credit card problem and the phones come ready to shop right out of the box with the end user having to do anything.
    - napierzaza 15y ago
      Why don't I pay you through your phone carrier? Not bad for me, but you'd probably have to split your profits with Verizon.
pg 15y ago
I'm dubious about that graph. It's suspicious that it's a graph of cumulative downloads. Cumulative graphs always go up nicely. But what matters is downloads per month. Someone with good monthly numbers will rarely resort to showing cumulative ones. It's particularly suspicious the way the number for December, which we're only 6 days into, lines up exactly where it would if they were seeing hyperlinear growth. You'd have to time your post almost to the day to make it look so neat. I would be very interested to see an ordinary graph (i.e. without graphic tricks to make it steep) of downloads per month. That would show us what's really happening. I wouldn't be surprised if what that graph showed was linear growth (which is bad, because it means a decreasing growth rate), followed by a massive spike in December due to a special promotion.
- andrewjshults 15y ago
  It looks like the December bar (yellow) is actually for November if you take each bar as a month (which lines up with the rest of the marked points). The labeling on the graph is wrong (the yellow bar should be slightly below 10 billion and labeled as November). I'd like to see the downloads per month (and especially see the paid downloads per month), but as a marketing tool, I'd bet that 10 billion downloads sounds better than whatever their current downloads a day rate is.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  > linear growth (which is bad, because it means a decreasing growth rate) Isn't linear growth associated with constant growth rate? Serious question, I'm not sure if I'm not missing some understanding here.
  - hasanove 15y ago
    If you grow from 10 to 15, 20, 25 etc., each time, even though you are adding 5, it is a smaller percentage of what you had. In this example, you would be adding 50% to go from 10 to 15, then 33% to go from 15 to 20, then 25% etc. Growth is linear, but growth rate is decreasing.

89 points by nod 15y ago

psychedelicx 15y ago

Offtopic - Any idea how to make a graph like that (sure doesn't look like Excel!)?

th0ma5 15y ago
you could take that graph out of excel by cut & paste, this makes it WMF format I think on the clipboard? anyway, it is some kind of vector format, and then paste it into illustrator or inkscape or something. i'm sure open office can create clipboard data that is vector.
- psychedelicx 15y ago
  Thanks! I'll try it in Inkscape.

vijayr 15y ago

why 10 cents? why not make those apps free, for those 10 days?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
netrus 15y ago
Because Android Market users more often download free apps than users of the AppStore. Google most likely intends to get people to enter their CC number, and to get used to pay for apps.
hugoc 15y ago
I can see google wanting to have your credit card number in file to ease future purchases ;)
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ryandvm 15y ago
My guess is $0.10 might be cheap enough to motivate people to jump the "pain in the ass" bar that is entering credit card data. The fact that Apple forces iTunes sign-up before you can use the iPhone gives paid iPhone apps a huge advantage over Android Market apps.
- Kell 15y ago
  And it works... I just updated my Wallet account with my new credit card number. It's been months that I was like "Oh... no I'm not buying that 2$ app... I'm to lazy to update my credit card". And well, now I have 10 new great apps I bought for 1$ ! And ready to buy more. Damn... I'm being manipulated and actually liking it :-).
tudorw 15y ago
I believe if you make an app free on the Android market you cannot then go back to charging for that app, it is a one way trip.
andrewpi 15y ago
Paid apps are permanently associated with your Android Market account, unlike free apps.

ryandvm 15y ago

So... I'm curious to know what app market veterans think of this kind of thing. Are fire sales like these actually helpful for fledgling apps or is it really just a blip of sales and then back to business as usual? I often lament that Google won't let me temporarily drop my Radar Livepaper app to $0, but perhaps I'd be shooting myself in the foot by doing so.

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
It's hard to say in this instance, Google has historically been very hands-off when it comes to the Market. I think this is the first time they've explicitly done a sale like this; as opposed to devs operating on their own.
alex_c 15y ago
This stuff seems to work incredibly well on Steam - I don't see why it wouldn't help here. The big value isn't just the front-page promotion, it's also the time limited sale for a bargain price. I suspect the main effect in the long term will be to boost the app's ranking in its category (because of how many downloads it got) and in search results (based on downloads, active users, ratings, or whatever algorithms Google actually uses). Whether the app will manage to take advantage of that and hang in there, or will fade back to obscurity, will probably vary from app to app.
dpcan 15y ago
I've been selling for almost 2 years in the Android Market, have had millions of downloads of my free apps, and tens of thousands of paid app sales. P.S. I have not been invited into this special $0.10 club. I'm guessing because my apps don't scale well for tablets at the moment. Lowering my price in the Android Market has done nothing for me personally. Running a sale may increase the download rate, but it seems to even out or lose me money in the end. It doesn't increase enough to convince me to leave my apps at a lower price. HOWEVER, I feel that if I had the opportunity to go all the way down to, say, $0.25, I would get tons of sales. I probably won't run a sale again. The bottom line is that I make more money when my apps are priced higher even though I sell less copies. So, being that I'm in this as a business, and not a hobby, I have to stick with higher prices.

ghempton 15y ago

I wish you could actually price your apps at $.10

lini 15y ago

For a little perspective - the App Store passed 15 billion downloads back in July [1]. Google seems to be catching up. [1] https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/07Apples-App-Store-Downloads-Top-15-Billion.html https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/07Apples-App-Store-...

bproper 15y ago
Google will catch up, as it did in marketshare. But the cost of Google's open approach, and big gains in smartphone marketshare, is a corresponding growth in its malware, currently growing 4X faster than iOs. http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/05/android-malware-over-ios-12052011/ http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/05/android-malware-over-ios-...
estel 15y ago
In October they apparently updated this figure to 18 billion at a rate of 1 billion / month. http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/smartphoneapps/News/1079564/18_billion_apps_downloaded_from_the_app_store.html http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/smartphoneapps/New...

nod 15y ago

Personally, I think the 10-cent sale is brilliant. 10 cents motivates you to put in your credit card number if you haven't - and then the difference between 10 cents and 99 cents for other apps later is pretty trivial psychologically. I wonder if they are compensating these partners beyond the 10 cent price?

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
Google has to be giving them something out of their own pocket; unless they've got a special deal with their processors the $0.10 is being melted down for cigar cases at Visa and etc. before Google sees any of it.
- bvdbijl 15y ago
  You should ask one of the devs whose app is being featured, don't know if Google allows them to answer though
jcampbell1 15y ago
I fully agree. Apple has externally boasted about how many apple accounts that have associated credit cards. I image they follow this number closely internally. I think Google is now starting to realize the importance of this metric. Google should make getting customers to pay something a priority for every product/division.
- dagw 15y ago
  A much better approach might be to make a deal with the carriers and simply have app store purchases show up on your phone bill. This way they get around the whole credit card problem and the phones come ready to shop right out of the box with the end user having to do anything.
  - napierzaza 15y ago
    Why don't I pay you through your phone carrier? Not bad for me, but you'd probably have to split your profits with Verizon.

pg 15y ago

I'm dubious about that graph. It's suspicious that it's a graph of cumulative downloads. Cumulative graphs always go up nicely. But what matters is downloads per month. Someone with good monthly numbers will rarely resort to showing cumulative ones. It's particularly suspicious the way the number for December, which we're only 6 days into, lines up exactly where it would if they were seeing hyperlinear growth. You'd have to time your post almost to the day to make it look so neat. I would be very interested to see an ordinary graph (i.e. without graphic tricks to make it steep) of downloads per month. That would show us what's really happening. I wouldn't be surprised if what that graph showed was linear growth (which is bad, because it means a decreasing growth rate), followed by a massive spike in December due to a special promotion.

andrewjshults 15y ago
It looks like the December bar (yellow) is actually for November if you take each bar as a month (which lines up with the rest of the marked points). The labeling on the graph is wrong (the yellow bar should be slightly below 10 billion and labeled as November). I'd like to see the downloads per month (and especially see the paid downloads per month), but as a marketing tool, I'd bet that 10 billion downloads sounds better than whatever their current downloads a day rate is.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
TeMPOraL 15y ago
> linear growth (which is bad, because it means a decreasing growth rate) Isn't linear growth associated with constant growth rate? Serious question, I'm not sure if I'm not missing some understanding here.
- hasanove 15y ago
  If you grow from 10 to 15, 20, 25 etc., each time, even though you are adding 5, it is a smaller percentage of what you had. In this example, you would be adding 50% to go from 10 to 15, then 33% to go from 15 to 20, then 25% etc. Growth is linear, but growth rate is decreasing.