After putting in tremendous efforts in constructing a resourceful app, the very next question a developer is found juggling with is,How will I monetize my application? Or in simple words how will I earn money out of my app? Today, app monetization has evolved as one of the most crucial aspects of app marketing for any app business with the advent of more than one monetization strategies; from Paid Apps to Free Apps, Freemium Apps and Apps with In-app advertisements.
If we go back to the time, there was minimal competition in the the market and people without having many choices, were obliged to pay for what they wanted and on the other hand the developers were rewarded with quick money for their offerings. However, it wasn’t until Apple realized the void and then decided to build ‘App Store’ on its very own iPhone along with the iPod touch. This initiative has now inspired N number of vendors to plunge into the app industry resulting in birth of ‘millions of apps’ across different app stores.
Now, it is evident that with the advent of more and more apps in the market, the developers were bound to congregate strategies that helps them attract more people to download their app amidst all the competition and the price aspect seems to have been manipulated to the highest stature. With the need to fulfil the latter, developers consistently started lowering the price of the apps, in order to serve affordable apps in the form of on-sale apps or discount on apps. The idea was to attract more users which then soon resulted in the popularity of Free Apps. These free apps have effortlessly carved a place in the niche market and it is all due to the wholehearted acceptance it has received from the mass.
Let us have a look at what has the manipulation of pricing aspect led to on the on the iOS platform in the last 4 years.
However, these free apps have also evolved as the developers have been making constant efforts of generate a source of revenue out of them, which has also led to the popularity of Freemium apps, in-app purchases and apps with in-app advertisements. The reason behind its popularity is that today people are ready to bear the in- app ads if the app is meeting their expectations; and if they download those app, then the app is capable of earning even more than it would have earned as a paid app. No, we aren’t looking over the fact that most people hate the interruption caused by ads, but when these very people face the choice between free apps with ads or paid apps without ads even with the lowest of cost, they end up preferring the free apps with the ads.
So, does this suggest that the idea of generating quick revenue out of paid apps is about to die with the coming of so many other pricing options that help generate equal amount of revenue? According to Flurry report that was based on app price changes over time, it estimated that around 80 to 84 percent of iOS apps were free between 2010 and 2012, but by 2013, 90 percent of iOS apps in its network were now free. With that, the company also noticed that the users on Android platform are even less willing to pay for mobile apps than those on iOS.
Let us put this straight, even though there are some segments of developers that still manage to monetize through paid downloads, and even more developers that are opting to generate significant revenue through in-app purchases especially for game apps, Paid apps seems to have lost the grip while Free apps have made the way for a brighter future.
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