App analytic and market intelligence specialist, App Annie released its 2013 retrospective report on the key trends from last year and it reveals some major shifts in terms of download market share and emerging app markets. Definitely take time to download the free report and read it. You can get it here.

In the meantime, here are the potted highlights: Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to the number of app downloads, Google Play is out ranking the Apple App Store. This time (Q3) last year, Google was ahead in downloads by 10%. Q3 2013 and the search-engine giants have increased their lead to around 25%. One of the main drivers for this increase is the fifth biggest country in the world in terms of land mass and population – Brazil. In its latest research on these two major app stores, app analytic and intelligence experts, App Annie, has cited the influence of the country’s middle class to its growth in downloads.

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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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It’s time again for another App Show and we managed to escape the confines of Cambridge again to head out to Cologne for GDC Europe. There we caught up with a number of interesting people from the apps industry showing off their wares.

We had Anders Jepsen from Blackberry explaining to us why Blackberry OS should be considered by developers, even with the company’s difficulties. Alistair Aitcheson, an indie guru and developer of Greedy Bankers, chatted to us about multiplayer tablet games. And Andrew Smith of Appy Nation talked to us about the reboot of legendary App Store game Transport Tycoon.

But that wasn’t all we found out about on this month’s show. We chatted to Richard Bates of Kick it Out! who talked to us about how the anti-racism organisation is hoping that cloud based apps will help fans to report racist abuse.

And, of course, we had time for the mainstays of The App Show: all the news from the app world this month, reviews from our resident critic Beth about the best apps for Summer and the all important Free App Magic Chart.

Check the show out at 9pm tonight on http://www.star107.co.uk/resources/radioplayer/ or catch up with the podcast tomorrow http://bit.ly/msappshow

MagicSolver, the app discovery and user acquisition specialists, have been named one of Mobile Entertainment’s Top 50 Mobile Innovators in the UK for 2013.

The ME Top 50 has been going for three years and recognises excellence within a number of mobile specific sectors. MagicSolver has been recognised for its continued success in the Apps sphere after it amassed more than 30 million downloads for its portfolio of mobile app discovery platforms.

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The MagicSolver sales team are in Cologne this week at GDC Europe and GamesCom, ready to provide you with great advice on boosting your app downloads.

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It’s time for the June edition of the App Show and we really got our teeth into a wide variety of app industry issues this month.

We chatted with Craig Grannell, games editor for Tap! Magazine and contributor for Macformat, about the changes to iOS 7 and what that means for the future of Apple. We caught up with Iris Campinski from Apps for Good and Ben Howard from ViewRanger to discuss how their work with apps has helped the community. And we discussed how you turn a board game into an app with Rodeo Games’ CTO Richard Brooks and Creative Director Ben Murch.

With Beth reviewing superhero apps and the Free App Magic Chart rounding things off, you can check out this bumper interview special by listening the podcast via http://bit.ly/msappshow.

George

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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Hi everyone,

It’s time for another edition of the App Show and, yet again, we’ve got some absolutely cracking features coming up for you.

We’re chatting with Andrew Smith from Appy Nation about how indie developers are coming together to help push their apps up the chart; an essential listen for any of you thinking about extending your marketing reach.

On top of that, we’re also talking tax breaks for British game developers with Dr Jo Twist of the UK Interactive Entertainment Association and Andrew Eades, CEO of Relentless Software, to discuss how the moves may benefit app developers. And, of course, we’ve got the news, reviews and Free App Magic chart to enjoy.

Listen live tonight from 9pm on Star Radio here or catch up with our podcast by downloading it here from tomorrow onwards.

Hope you enjoy the show!

George

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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