Distimo: 60% Of Android Apps Are Free Vs. 29% Of iOS Apps, Prices Continue To Rise

Distimo, a startup focused on providing app store analytics, has published its latest report detailing the mobile app ecosystem across the Apple App Store for iPad and iPhone, BlackBerry’s App World, the Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog and the Windows Marketplace for Mobile for July 2010 in the United States.

Similar to previous reports, Distimo primarily looked at pricing characteristics across all major app stores to determine the proportion of free vs. paid apps and the average cost of which, which continue to rise.  The Android Market continues to have the largest share of free apps compared to the others, with 60% of the total, compared to just 29% for Apple’s App Store for iPhone and 26% for the iPad App Store.  Android has more than double the amount of free apps than any of the other six App Stores in the report.

In terms of pricing, the report states the average price of the 100 most popular apps in the Android Market and Palm’s App Catalog is higher than the average price of the entire catalogue of applications.  While the average price of all apps is only 16% higher in the App Store for iPad over the App Store for iPhone, the average price of the 100 most popular applications is nearly three times as high for iPad apps.  Over 60% of apps are priced below or equal to $2 in the App Store for iPhone, Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Palm’s App Catalog, while the proportion of apps priced below or equal to $2 is much lower in the App Store for iPad and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

As usual, you can find much more info, data points and graphics in the actual report, available for download here.

This article is published by Mobile Marketing Watch, click here to read the original article.

Local Mobile Search Stats: Up 14% To 17.3M Users- Mobile Web Leads, Apps Growing

Yellow Pages recently released data in conjunction with comScore that dove into the mobile search sector with an emphasis on local mobile search. While the concept is obviously growing, the data shows some interesting insight into how consumers are interacting with the medium.

The research shows that the number of mobile subscribers accessing business directories on a mobile phone increased 14 percent year-over-year to 17.3 million users in March 2010. This increase outpaces the 10 percent growth in the number of mobile media users who browsed the mobile web, used applications or downloaded content during the same time period.

The most interesting part of the research had to do with local mobile search via the mobile Web compared to mobile apps. According to comScore, the mobile browser was the most common access method for users, with 10.8 million subscribers in March 2010 and 21 percent year-over-year growth. However, mobile apps show 42 percent year-over-year growth, indicating an interesting trend going forward.

This article is published by MobileMarketingWatch, click here to read the original article.

5 Reasons to Use Mobile Coupons Now

The 2010 U.S. Local Mobile Advertising & Promotions Forecast from Borell Associates estimates that mobile coupon spending will grow from $90 million in 2009 to $6.52 billion in the next four years. Indeed, the redeemed value of mobile coupons is already roughly 10 times greater than mail or newspaper distributed coupons and nearly 25 percent higher than printed internet coupons.

Yet despite the meteoric growth and success of mobile coupons, there remain marketers who still haven’t realized the ever-growing importance of reaching consumers when they’re on the move.

For those drifting in the mobile marketing doldrums, here are five reasons why mobile couponing can put some wind in your sails.

1. It’s simple. Although much of the mobile marketing hype is focused on apps, most businesses don’t have a need for one nor do they have the resources to develop and support an effective app. Regardless, apps have an incredibly limited reach, as only 17 percent of phones are smartphones. Meanwhile, virtually all phones are capable of sending and receiving SMS or “text” messages.

The simplicity of text messaging, along with its reach (SMS is available on nearly 100 percent of the 288 million mobile phones in the U.S. and 5 billion mobile phones around the world), makes it the most effective medium for reaching any customer — no matter where they are.

2. It can increase the frequency with which current customers use your product or service. Since mobile coupons require opt-ins, your current customers are the ones that will opt in for special offers, not random magazine or billboard readers that you target with normal (i.e., frequently wasted) advertising. These people like you already; you just have to get them to come in more frequently. Rewarding core customers for their continued loyalty by sending exclusive mobile coupons gives them a solid reason for purchasing from you again and again.

3. It can introduce new guests. Buy one, get one offers that require another person (buy an entrée, get an entrée or buy two tickets, get two free) will help introduce new people to your business. Launching mobile marketing messages when your customers are likely to be with friends, family or co-workers can bring new customers in by the droves.

This article is published by eMC, click here to read the original article.

Why You May Not Need a Mobile App

Ever since Apple launched the iPhone app store, the company has been pushing its apps to get all of the attention. But when was the last time you read a review about a new mobile website? Thousands of apps and billions of downloads consistently steal the headlines, while the mobile web is largely ignored by everyone but the consumer. Yet, despite what the marketing would lead you to believe, consumers use the mobile web just as much as apps.

At my company, we raced down the same road, putting pedal to the metal on our apps while leaving our mobile website on cruise control. Our iPhone app has been a Top 10 iPhone reference application for almost two years with almost six million downloads, and even with all of the great chart positions and visibility – just as many iPhone consumers use our mobile website as the application. We are not alone; Comscore reported in April that 72 million mobile users accessed a website compared to 69 million users who used an application. Both are showing more than 25% year-to-year growth.

Mobile Web Gets Better

When the app store first launched, only apps could use and access the device’s location. Last July, Apple launched OS 3.0 which provided Safari with GPS/location functionality. Apple’s HTML5 agenda continues to advance the mobile web browsing experience with video, audio, and a limited amount of caching or offline storage of data. The lines between apps and mobile web are blurring and converging.

But Apps Make Money

Apps make more money because iTunes makes it easier for consumers to pay. Similar to Amazon’s one-click check-out, iTunes is a virtual wallet used by 125 million consumers. But a mobile website can’t integrate with iTunes billing — you need an app for that: We tested a premium offer via our iPhone app which achieved a 50% higher conversion rate than the same offer on the mobile web.

However, for advertising revenue, the rates we receive on the mobile web are similar to in-app advertising. In terms of performance, a study on the mobile web versus app for a major travel advertiser showed the mobile web out-performing advertising on the application. Apple does place restrictions on in-app advertising and has the right to block out ad networks they deem competitive. There are no such restrictions on the mobile web.

So which should you choose for your business: A mobile web site, or a mobile application?

Why the Mobile Web Makes Sense

Even if an app is still the right choice for you, consider building a mobile website first since it will allow you to build and refine a great consumer experience, optimizing touch screen navigation. Mobile search provider Taptuhas highlighted the importance of this through its listings of “touch-friendly” mobile sites.

Another benefit of the mobile web is that you can write once to be read everywhere. With the mobile web, you can reach more devices with a single development effort. Unfortunately, mobile app platforms are fragmented, meaning you have to build specific apps for iPhone, Android, RIM, and Palm Pre. A mobile website can be built to standards that works on all these devices. There are also some fairly easy implementations that allow you to manage device profiles and optimize for different screen sizes.

One of the most satisfying benefits of the mobile web is the freedom to rapidly innovate and refine without approval or requiring the user to update and download. When Google could not get its voice application approved, for example, it responded by building a web version that required no approval process and used HTML5 for audio playback and SMS/Email for alerting.

When To Create An App

Once you’ve optimized the experience, you can use your mobile website to graduate users to a more robust native app.

One of the most important differences between a popular app and the thousands you’ve never heard of is the merchandising from the iTunes App chart. Hitting the Top 4 on the Free App chart drove over 250,000 downloads for the WhitePages Mobile App. Download volume and positive ratings are important factors needed to get onto the chart. We achieved first week download velocity by promoting the app on our mobile website, which we had steadily built an audience for. Learning and optimizing our mobile website helped us create a better app that led to better reviews and ratings. It helps to think of the mobile web as a beta, and the app as gold.

On-device placement is also important, and a bookmarked site gets the same favicon placement on your iPhone as a downloaded app. Social media will continue to be an important distribution engine, and sharing the URL for a mobile website provides one-click gratification.

Whether you are just starting to put your mobile strategy together or have been at it for some time, don’t just chase the shiny lure of an app before catching the mobile users that are already surfing your site. Let me know about your experience and best practices for building a mobile website in the comment section below.

This article is published by Mashable, click here to read the original article.