Developers that are finding it a tough row to hoe when attempting to profit financially from their mobile apps now are only going to find it even tougher in the years to come, says a Gartner forecast. (Via TechCrunch.)
Looking at the period through to 2018, Gartner predicts that fewer than one in 10,000 apps will be considered financially successful by their developers
Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner said, “The vast number of mobile apps may imply that mobile is a new revenue stream that will bring riches to many. However, our analysis shows that most mobile applications are not generating profits.”
Small developers are finding it increasingly difficult to get their apps noticed, as the bloated app stores lead consumers to increasingly look to friends, recommendations, reviews, and advertising to make their selections.
The proliferation of numerous apps that perform basically the same function means consumers can usually find a free or freemium app that does the same thing as a paid app, so Gartner sees 94.5% of all apps going the free or freemium route by 2017, with in-app advertising and purchases an important source of revenue for developers. The company also predicts browser-based apps will surge in popularity as the HTML5 standard matures.
“Although more than 100 ‘platform independent’ development tools exist, most involve technical or commercial compromises, such as lock-in to relatively niche technologies and small vendors. This will drive increasing interest in HTML5 as a somewhat-standardized, widely available, platform-neutral delivery technology,” says Dulaney.
I think there is a hole here, and I think is pretty obvious. In the study they all love to do, they forget that in most cases (not all of course) an app is not the thing that has to make the profit. The apps that make profit are the ones that support a community.
The people who do the studies, and maybe the developers too, see apps as an economy in itself, but that is not how it should be seen. A good community is supported by apps, not vice versa. In this new mobile world, a community, eg. Foursquare, couldn’t live without the app.
I would guess that apps that are connected to vibrant communities, like Foursquare, have no problems.
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