The New Apps in the Crowd

February 2013 THE NEW APPS IN THE CROWD

By Anne Hezemans, Analyst at Distimo

Publication - February 2013

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Who are the newcomers in the application market, and which new applications should you be on the lookout for in 2013? We already reported on successful publishing in our 2012 year-end report, and since the apparent importance of new top applications we studied the new publishers and applications further. This month’s publication, “The New Apps in the Crowd”, covers the Apple App Store for iPhone, the Apple App Store for iPad, and Google Play from October 2012 through January 2013. We used the information of the new top publishers and applications of AppIQ, which includes daily estimates of download volumes and revenue for each application.

The major findings are:

Of the top 250 publishers in the Apple App Store for iPhone in the U.S. only 2% are new publishers, compared to three percent for Google Play in the U.S..

The newcomers in Google Play have published more applications than the new publishers in the Apple App Stores for iPhone and iPad. The top 250 new publishers in the U.S. in Google Play published an average of six free applications, while the top new pubs in the U.S. in the Apple App Store for iPhone published an average of two free applications.

17% of the top 300 applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone in the U.S. were new applications, and in 12% of the top 300 applications in the U.S. were new in Google Play.

The new applications in Google Play gained relatively more revenue than the new applications in the Apple App Store during the four months from October 2012 through January 2013. 18% of the total revenue (including in-app purchases) went to new Google Play applications in the U.S., while 12% went to new applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone.

The most downloaded new applications in the Apple App Store were Temple Run 2, Google Maps, and LINE POP. They were released one day and reached over one million downloads worldwide the next day.

The fastest growing new applications in terms of revenue in the Apple App Store were Angry Birds Star Wars (and HD), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Temple Run 2. They each gained one million dollar worldwide within one week after release.

Alongside this publication we host a free webinar on the subject of new publishers and applications on Monday 4th of March @ 5:00 PM (CET). Please register here to join the webinar.

Introduction

This month’s publication reviews the newest developments in publishers and applications. Who are these new top publishers? And which new applications are enjoying the most success?

It is a very crowded application market, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of applications on the store shelves. As one might expect, the adoption rate is highest in the games category, where applications generate the most downloads and revenue. However, other kinds of applications can generate a lot of downloads too.

We begin this month report by looking at the new publishers, then we will study the new applications. And finally we look at the amount of time needed to reach one million downloads to determine which new applications are the most successful. The term “new application” signifies the moment any application of the publisher was first seen in the respective application store within the last four months – from October 2012 through January 2013.

The big picture

Let us first take a look at the big picture to maintain a sense of perspective. Google Play showed relative huge growth in the past six months, with a growth of 107% in daily revenues across the 20 biggest +52% countries1 compared to August 2012. The growth in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad was less in the past six months, but still amounted to 52% growth in daily revenues. The growth was 17% for Google Play within the last month, and a mere three percent for the Apple App Store. It is important to remember, however, that the absolute values in the +107% Apple App Store were already much higher.

Apple recently announced that eight billion dollar Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan has been paid out to developers. This represents an increase of $1 billion since the last time numbers 1Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Nether- were announced on January 7, 2012, and a huge lands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States increase in developer payouts.

New publishers take a small bite of the revenue pie

Among the top 250 publishers within the last four months, only a small number of publishers were new. For example, two percent of publishers were new in the Apple App Store for iPad and iPhone in the U.S., compared to three percent for Google Play. The share of new publishers was higher with regard to the smaller countries: six percent for Google Play and six percent for the Apple App Store for iPhone.

1.5% New publishers

1.0% represent a small part of 0.5% the revenue

0.0%

These new publishers represent an even smaller part of the revenue, and show that it really is a tight market. The top new publishers in Google Play gained relatively more revenue than the new publishers in the Apple App Store. Of the total revenue (including in-app purchases), just 1.2% goes to new publishers in Google Play in the U.S., and in the Apple App Store for iPhone this number is just .25%.

Top 10 new publishers in U.S.

The top 10 new publishers in the U.S. based on the number of downloads are presented below. A number of publishers in the Apple App Store for iPhone reached the top list with Christmas-related applications. These include: Find the Elves- Elf on the Shelf®- Christmas Game from The Elf on the Shelf CCA & B LLC. and ElfYourself by OfficeMax from Magic Mirror LLC. Which stresses the importance of Christmas Holidays on app sales.

Top 10 new publishers in the U.S. (Oct. 2012-Jan. 2013)

1. Yau You Music Video Professionals Easy Tiger Apps, LLC. Snapchat, Inc

2. Magic Mirror LLC Magic Mirror LLC Hapoga

Jellyvision Games, Inc. 3. The Elf on the Shelf CCA & B LLC. Droid App Solutions

4. Maura Thompson Maura Thompson Fonts for FlipFont®

5. Reinvent Florene Mitchell Amazing Game

6. Food Maker Inc. Cookies! ASPS Apps Doodle Joy Studio

7. Florene Mitchell Jellyvision Games, Inc. Wooga

8. Willie Humphrey Reinvent Mirmay Limited

9. TouchFrame Social Quantum sumofun

10. Boomlagoon Tapple RockYou!

New pubs The newcomers in Google Play published more applications than the new publishers did in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad from October 2012 through January launch more 2013. The top new publishers in Google Play released an average of six free and/or paid applications on shelves of the store, while the top publishers in the Apple App Store apps in for iPhone released two free and/or paid applications. A plausible explanation is that the review policy of Apple App Store makes that is harder for new publishers to release Google Play applications.

Top new applications

A whole different story can be told when we go down to an app level. The most popular new applications are published by publishers who are more widely known, although there are some exceptions. A less familiar name is for example Majic Jungle Software with The Blockheads, who was considered as one of the best new games apps.

Proportion revenue new applications of the top 300 U.S. applications 20% The revenue

15% share of Google Play’s new 10% applications is 5% larger than of

0% the Apple App Stores

New applications have more impact on the top applications selection. It reflects the higher rotation rate of applications. In the US 17% of the top 300 Applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone were new applications, for example, while in Google Play only 12% of the top 300 applications were new.

Relatively speaking, the new applications in Google Play gained more revenue than the new applications in the Apple App Store. 18% of the total revenue (including in-app purchases) went to new Google Play applications in the U.S., while 12% of the revenue was generated by new applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone.

The one million milestone

How fast are new applications embraced by the public? How fast can they reach one million downloads globally, and how fast can they reach one million dollars in revenue? We now look at the most successful new applications by ranking how fast they reached the one million downloads milestone.

An overview follows of the new applications in the Apple App Store that reached one million downloads worldwide in just a couple of days. Temple Run 2, Google Maps1 and LINE POP were released one day and reached over one million downloads the next day.

The country that contributed the most downloads was the United States. The U.S. was responsible for 36% of Most downloads the number of downloads of the Facebook Poke application in the first days. The NAVER applications, LINE POP and LINE PATAPOKO ANIMAL, reveal that Japan is the main contributor of downloads, where 87% of the LINE POP are gathered in downloads were from Japan, for example. the U.S.

Top 10 new applications to achieve one million milestone downloads worldwide (Oct. 2012-Jan. 2013)

App name App publisher Biggest contributors downloads

1. Temple Run 2 Imangi Studios, LLC 1. United States 26% 2. China 8% 3. Japan 7%

2. Google Maps Google, Inc. 1. United States 45% 2. Japan 15% 3. China 12%

3. LINE POP NAVER Japan Corporation 1. Japan 87% 2. United States 8% 3. Korea 3%

4. Disney Where’s My Valentine? Disney 1. United States 33% 2. China 7% 3. United Kingdom 7%

5. Facebook Poke Facebook, Inc. 1. United States 36% 2. United Kingdom 7% 3. Japan 7%

6. Angela’s Valentine Out Fit 7 Ltd. 1. United States 26% 2. China 8% 3. Russia 7%

7. HERE Maps NOKIA 1. United States 25% 2. United Kingdom 8% 3. Germany 7%

8. The Blockheads Majic Jungle Software 1. United States 42% 2. United Kingdom 10% 3. Canada 7%

9. Zombiewood Gameloft 1. United States 28% 2. China 10% 3. France 7%

10. Heroes of Order & Chaos Gameloft 1. China 19% 2. United States 17% 3. Thailand 10%

1 After dismissing Google as the default mapping application on iOS devices with the introduction of iOS 6, Google Maps returned to the Apple App Store in December 2012.

One million dollar app

It is been harder to collect $1M in revenue for these new applications. Only a few new applications made more than one million dollars worldwide within a one-month period. The fastest revenue generating new applications are Angry Birds Star Wars (and HD), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Temple Run 2. They have gained one million dollar within one week.

The business model used by these applications differs. Eight of the top 10 applications are paid apps, of which four have in-app purchases. While two of the top 10 applications are free apps with in-app purchases. This determines how the revenue is gained.

Top 10 new apps to reach $1M revenue milestone worldwide (Oct.2012 – Jan. 2013)

App name App publisher Free or Paid

1. Angry Birds Star Wars HD Rovio Entertainment Ltd Paid (In-App)

2. Angry Birds Star Wars Rovio Entertainment Ltd Paid (In-App)

3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Rockstar Games Paid

4. Temple Run 2 Imangi Studios, LLC Free (In-App)

5. Need for Speed™ Most Wanted Electronic Arts Paid (In-App)

6. Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour Gameloft Paid (In-App)

7. 秘宝伝 -太陽を求める者達- DP CORPORATION Paid

8. Bloons TD 5 Ninja Kiwi Paid (In-App)

9. 1Password AgileBits Inc. Paid

10. LINE POP NAVER Japan Corporation Free (In-App)

Recap

We concluded that it is a very crowded market for publishers, as only a small fraction of publishers are new. Two percent of all applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone in the U.S. are published by new publishers, and three percent of all applications in Google Play in the U.S. are put on the shelves by new publishers.

The application market is far more open for new applications. A considerate revenue share is gained by new applications. The fastest revenue generating new applications in the Apple App Store were Angry Birds Star Wars (normal and HD), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Temple Run 2. They each gained $1M in revenue within one week after release.

As a complement to this month’s publication, Distimo hosts a free webinar on the subject of “New Apps in the Crowd” Monday 4th March at 8:00 AM Pacific/5:00 PM Central European time. Please register here to join the webinar and learn more.

Track daily downloads and revenues of any app with Distimo AppIQ

Distimo AppIQ allows users to:

• Track and compare app downloads and competitor app downloads: Analyze an app’s market share and compare download figures versus a competitor’s in one chart. The chart shows the daily downloads and can also be aggregated per week or month. Events such as price changes, featured listings and version updates are also included, and allow the user to analyze the influence of each event on downloads.

• Analyze competing app revenues including those from in-app purchases: View daily revenues from competing apps side-by-side with the their own app and get extensive insight into the revenue generation of different business models, revenue per country, and platform.

• Identify the most popular and upcoming new apps: The Leaderboard provides the daily rankings of all applications, and can be viewed by app store, country, category, device, and free/paid/gross. All of the major app stores are supported, and for iOS and Android, the daily volumes per individual app are also provided. AppIQ users see the daily downloads and revenue from in-app purchases and one-off fees. Developers can also use the Leaderboard to see how many downloads are needed to achieve a certain ranking on any given day.

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