Newsletter The Android Market is the most wallet-friendly app store based on a recent report from analytics service Distimo. According to Distimo’s June report, the percent of free apps listed in the Android Market is 57 percent, which is twice as high as almost every other app store. The Apple App Store, Blackberry App World, Nokia Ovi Store, and Windows Marketplace all have 23-28 percent of free apps.
With the exception of the Palm App Catalog, which has 34% free apps, the Android Market doubles up on the competition. Only 43 percent of its apps cost money, while most other platforms charge for 7 out of 10 apps. Android also offers some of the cheapest price; the average price for paid apps is $3.29 USD. That’s higher than Nokia ($2.89) and Palm ($2.45), but cheaper than Blackberry ($6.97), Windows Mobile ($5.96), and iPhone ($4.01) apps.
These numbers are identical to what Distimo reported in February. While this may be encouraging to users looking to save a buck, it highlights one of Android’s problem of financial rewards for developers. Google has been inexplicably slow in getting paid apps support in most countries, so many developers make their apps free as a necessity to getting onto handsets. Worse yet, developers can only sell their apps if they live in one of a handful of nations. The United States has had paid apps for more than a year, so it is inexcusable for Google to still not have apps for sale everywhere Android phones are for sale.
Here are some other highlights from Distimo’s report
- 32% of Android apps cost $0.99 or less
- 31% cost $1-$2
- 37% cost more than $2
- The highest-ranked paid app, based on Distimo’s findings, is Beautiful Widgets by Level Up Studio ($1.88 USD). Dataviz’s DocsToGo is the most expensive app in the Top 10 ($14.99), but it has had several sales that lessened the price to $5.55-$9.99.
- Robo Defense is the most popular paid game ($2.99)
Percentage of Paid Apps Per Interval
