Distimo report highlights growth of in-app billing

Distimo, the leading mobile app analytics company, has today released its reports examining the movers and shakers for the year in each of the major mobile app stores across several territories. The reports contain a huge amount of data from the whole year covering Apple's App stores for the iPhone and iPad, Android marketplace, BlackBerry's App World, Windows Phone Marketplace, Nokia Ovi Store, and the Amazon Appstore.

The key findings from the reports are:

1. In all appstores the proportion of free applications surged significantly over the past year. In most appstores the average price of all apps decreased and the most popular applications are also cheaper than last year.

2. As publishers appear to be increasingly shunning one-off fees for their apps, in-app purchases in particular have emerged from several business models as the method of choice for app monetization.

3. The reports identify significant regional variations in download volumes with some regions exhibiting spectacular growth, while in other markets in-app purchases have take the fore as the main monetization method. The full reports contain complete details on download volumes and revenue details for all regions.

To download the reports in full, head over to the Distimo website - one report costs €699 for a single user license with concessions available for purchasing multiple territory reports.

MEF members can enjoy 15% off the cost of each - contact us for more information.

Here, Remco van den Elzen, Co-founder at Distimo, a strategic MEF partner, discusses the launch of a new report on Emerging Markets:

It is our pleasure to announce the publication of our report on the Emerging Markets, available exclusively for MEF members. The report is published as part of the strategic partnership between Distimo and the Mobile Entertainment Forum.

Distimo is all about mobile app store content and analytics, and Mobile Entertainment Forum has a strong history of driving mobile content adoption. We believe this equates to a great strategic partnership for both organisations.

This report reveals new insights into the Apple App Stores of Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The major findings are:

* The most popular applications are priced higher in the Emerging Markets than in the United States. Average prices have decreased in both regions however, since December 1, 2009.

* Applications in the Navigation and Medical categories are most expensive in the Emerging Markets, the same as they are in the United States. The average price of the most popular applications in the Finance, Medical, Navigation and Reference categories is higher however, in the Emerging Markets than in the United States due to a multitude of expensive applications that are only popular in the Emerging Markets.

* Games are more popular in the United States than in the Emerging Markets: 56% of the most popular applications in the United States are games, compared to only 29% in the Emerging Markets. The difference is even larger when it comes to revenue generation: 54% of the highest grossing applications in the United States are games compared to only 17% in the Emerging Markets.

* Instant messaging (IM) applications are among the most popular applications in the Emerging Markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Examples include WhatsApp Messenger, Live Messenger and Easy IM Free.

The full report is available exclusively to all MEF members.

MEF reflects on the Apple iPad

Following last week's launch of Apple's iPad, Andrew Bud comments on the impact it will have on the mobile entertainment industry:

The iPad represents a genuine watershed in the development of mobile entertainment. Like the Kindle, it represents an entirely new class of mobile connected device. Its screen size, and the large visual area it occupies, marks it out as something quite different from a smartphone or a portable player, yet it is evidently there to deliver content. It delivers a visual and tactile experience that is quite new, and will stimulate innovation in mobile entertainment along the lines the Mobile Entertainment Forum has already forecast for 2010 – books, media delivered with micro-payments or subscriptions, video, games.

The Apple iPad: A milestone in the mobile content experience?

Andrew Bud comments on Apple's launch of the iPad:

The Apple iPad, announced today in San Francisco, tangibly demonstrates how mobile entertainment is rapidly evolving beyond the smartphone. This new format is a key milestone in positioning the mobile connected device at the centre of the consumer’s content experience. This development also supports MEF’s 2010 mobile media predictions, as the Apple iPad will fuel the opportunity for books to emerge as a new and popular content category and allow media publishers to further experiment with micro-payments, subscription service models and new payment methods for content.

MEF’s 10th MeM in June will address these key themes within its agenda; m-commerce, the new business models for content distribution, and the role of the mobile device within a fully integrated approach to cross-platform delivery. Attendees will be provided with an unrivalled opportunity to join the debate with leading visionaries from the mobile and content industries.