The phrase \u2018there\u2019s an app for that\u2019 has achieved the ultimate in internet acceptance – it\u2019s a hashtag and a meme. It\u2019s also increasingly true – apps have proliferated at a massive rate. But does that mean there are now too many, and should you think of building one?<\/p>\n
Apps are the lifeblood of mobile internet, and they\u2019re among the fastest growing sectors anywhere in the economy, so it\u2019s hardly surprising that a lot of people want to get in on the action. But it\u2019s not always a good idea to become an app creator.<\/p>\n
Apps are an explosively growing sector. Between January and November 2014, Google Play, Amazon Appstore and iOS App Store each grew by more than 50%. And it\u2019s part of a long term trend going back to at least 2010. iOS App Store is worth 10 times what it was then, and in 2014, iOS App Store sold $10 bn worth of apps. Maybe that\u2019s why the three big players now have 1, 024, 000 developers working on apps between them – over half of whom work at Google.<\/p>\n
All of which sounds like a digital gold rush. Why wouldn\u2019t you want some of that?<\/p>\n
Apps take up 86% of a typical mobile web user\u2019s online time. That sounds like another fabulous stat showing why apps are the market to get into. But it\u2019s actually deceptive. It sounds like, if you\u2019re an app maker, you\u2019re competing for 86% of a mobile user\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
The reality, though, is that if you don\u2019t make games, which account for 32% of app time, you\u2019ll struggle. Facebook and social messaging account for another 27% of app time, leaving 41% to play for. Twitter, YouTube and utilities absorb another 18%, leaving just 23% of app time actually in play. That\u2019s spread across an average of 26 apps used on a monthly basis. If you\u2019re one of them, you\u2019re competing for less than a percent of the typical user\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
What will that competition look like? In an increasingly frantic marketplace, it will often look like financial outlay. Each app download costs the developer an average of $1.30, but some run far higher, as much as $70 in some cases. And half the users you acquire this way will be gone in just three months.<\/p>\n
None of this is a reason not to build an app: some apps are massively successful, and plenty that aren’t are providing value for their users and profits for their developers. But it is a good reason to think about whether you need an app – and to reconsider search. Mobile search has been eclipsed by consideration of that 86% figure – but in fact, as we’ve just seen, a new app developer is competing for just 5% of the average mobile user\u2019s internet time, as against the 14% accounted for by browsing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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