25 Apr 2011
I just finished a quick analysis on the overall impact to Electronic Arts of this past weekends 99c sale.
The follow data has been pulled from the Top Paid US iPhone and iPad charts.
Prior to the sale, EA had a total of five ranked iPad applications (Tiger Woods, Boogle, Scrabble, Max and the Magic Marker, and Monopoly).
The highest ranking iPad application was Max and the Magic Marker at 31st spot.
With regards to the iPhone, EA had a total of ten ranked applications (NBA Jam, The Sims, Scrabble, Battlefield, NBA Elite, Tetris, Tiger Woods, Mortal Kombat, The Game of Life, and Monopoly).
The highest ranking iPhone application was NBA Elite at 28th spot.
In terms of pricing, the average prices for EA iPhone and iPad applications pre-sale was > $2.99. During the sale, most applications were dropped to 99c. The few apps that didn’t receive a price cut maintained their chart positions but didn’t make any gains.
As of today (2011-04-25), Electronic Arts has fifteen *iPad applications and *twenty-two iPhone applications on the top 100 charts.
Many of these applications had fallen off the charts in the weeks and months prior to this sale.
10 of the top 20 paid and 3 of the top 20 grossing applications (iPhone) now belong to EA.
Looking at the iPad, it’s even more exaggerated with EA controlling 7 of the top 10 paid and 4 of the top 20 grossing applications.
This is big business and Electronic Arts are one of the masters when it comes to timely price manipulations.
We, as consumers, are extremely price sensitive.
The raw data underlying this study was extracted from appiity.com and is available below:
iPhone
iPad
24 Apr 2011
The manners in which applications are discovered has been a particular passion of mine for awhile now.
About a year ago, I started collecting the data to drive the site that has eventually morphed into Appiity.
If you haven’t seen it, Appiity is an application that enhances the iTunes App Store charts with historical information about each application. It answers the questions: ‘Does this app have staying power or is it a one hit wonder?’ or ‘Does this vendor have a history of releasing quality applications or do they just manipulate their prices enough to maintain a particular rank?’.
Over the past month or so, I’ve been looking to make application discovery a little more personal. I believe that finding great applications is an inherently social activity. We’re more likely to try an application recommended by friends than one with a significant advertising budget.
With that, I’m proud to announce that my latest experiment is ready for a bit more public attention.
Appiity Discover
It’s still very much a work in progress, but for those of you wanting to help improve application discovery, check it out.
Appiity Discover aims to help you find better applications through the development of a personal profile. This profile defines who you are and the types of applications you have indicated a preference for.
We realize that this goal cannot be accomplished overnight and hope that this first incarnation will be a stepping stone towards realizing our goals.
In the meantime, we hope you’re willing to help us out. In return, we’ll do our best to help you find that golden nugget of an app that would have otherwise been missed.
Follow us on Twitter: @appiity
05 Apr 2011
The following are preliminary results from a survey circulated yesterday titled “Discovering Mobile Applications“. If you haven’t had an opportunity to complete the survey, you’re more than welcome to do so now.
In putting together the survey I was looking for three things:
– How price sensitive consumers are
– How they’re currently discovering applications
– Do they look to others for help on purchasing decisions (reviews, etc.)
Although far from scientific, this information will be used to further the development of appiity.com and findap.ps. Thanks to all the participants!
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People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
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What is/are your primary application device(s)
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iPhone
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82%
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iPad
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29%
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Android Phone
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18%
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Android Tablet
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12%
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Other
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0%
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How do you currently discover applications
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iOS App Store (mobile)
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53%
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iOS App Store (iTunes)
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6%
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Android Marketplace
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12%
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Amazon Appstore
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0%
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Other (blogs, word of mouth)
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29%
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How many applications have you purchased in the last month
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1
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18%
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less than 5
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35%
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less than 10
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47%
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more than 10
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0%
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Does price impact your willingness to purchase an application
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No, I’ll pay $9.99 for a great app
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35%
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Yes, I’m more likely to buy an app if it’s onsale
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65%
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I’m more likely to purchase an application if
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It has great reviews
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88%
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It has high quality screenshots
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59%
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My friends have recommended it
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82%
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I have purchased another app from the same developer
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53%
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How do you hear about new applications
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Word of mouth via friends
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88%
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Twitter
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44%
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Facebook
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19%
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Other (blogs)
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69%
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