For app developers choosing the right pricing/revenue model is a key factor in the success of their app. We have rigourously debated the relative advantages and disadvantages of the different models – paid for free with ad support and freemium – in previous blogs but the newest debate centres on the end of paid for apps.

Tech Crunch’s insightful article on this subject shows this isn’t a clear cut argument as you may expect. The stats from Flurry research shows the move toward free is getting larger: from 2010 to 2012 the proportion of free apps on the Apple App Store grew from 80% to 84%. In 2013 this had reached 90%. The interesting discovery from this research was that app developers shifted towards the free pricing model not through peer pressure but by experimenting with different streams to find the model that suited their app.

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In our last blog, we touched on the various revenue streams available to app developers with the Freemium model providing a more progressive option for developers looking outside the paid for and ad-supported routes. Of course, the Freemium model won’t suit every developer as it depends on the app being created but recent research from technology analyst Gartner suggests that Freemium and the in-app purchase (IAP) model will dominate the app world over the next four years.

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For app developers, the pros and cons of adopting a freemium model still provokes much debate. Monetising an app is an important part of any developer’s strategy and along with the in-app purchasing there are paid and ad-supported options for developers to consider. But whatever route taken, freemium still grabs the headlines.

An infographic from monetising and app distribution specialists StartApp, plays out the story of going freemium, highlight the success stories of freemium-based apps (take a bow Candy Crush Saga) but also noting the risks involved going down this revenue avenue – the biggest of which is convincing users to make the in-app purchases to recoup the lack of upfront cost. Make sure you check out the infographic below to get a pictorial lowdown on freemium.

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With the rise of the freemium model in mobile gaming, developers and marketers have to prioritise attracting the right users to their apps. While the removal of the cost barrier to download significantly increases the average audience for an app, user acquisition efforts need to ensure that the right percentage of users will pay to play and offset the loss of up front income.

So attracting “Power Players” to your app can make a big difference to your monetisation performance. According to loyalty network Session M, Power Players are the 33.3% most active users in game apps; they account for 81% of total time spent in game apps and they record 11.6 times as many sessions as a regular player. These players fit closely with the persona of high spending user, meaning that acquiring them is an important step to monetisation success.

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With an ever increasing number of smart mobile devices being sold every year, the mobile app ecosystem is exploding in size as more and more people enter the market. So the Application Developer Alliance have surveyed mobile device owners to find out their behaviour towards apps and see if there are any major insights that mobile marketers should be tapping into.

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A new infographic out this week has suggested that the burst campaigns we run at MagicSolver are essential for getting visibility on the App Store.

Created by one of our clients Trademob, it shows how services like the one we offer are vital for getting your app enough visibility in the charts to generate organic downloads. With apps needing 80,000 downloads in the course of 72 hours to top the U.S. charts alone, promoting apps to our extensive unincentivised user base is an excellent way to eat into that figure while acquiring high quality users.

Check out some more of the major headlines below and feel free to drop us an email at letschat@magicsolver.com if your app needs a promotional boost.

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Judging by the findings of the Developer Economics 2013 report, the monetary rewards for app developers aren’t anything to write home about. Commissioned by ecosystem analyst Vision Mobile, the report – condensed into lovely bite-size form in the infographic below – shows that 67% of developers are actually earning below the “app poverty line” of $500 per app per month. Unsurprisingly the report shows that revenues are boosted the more platforms app developers engage with (72% use two or more platforms concurrently) and even though subscription models pay out more, the most popular is in-app advertising with 38% of app developers adopting this model. To get a more detailed overview of developer practice check out the infographic.

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