Getting into the lucrative top 20 apps charts on Apple’s App store or Google Play is becoming tougher, according to new research.
The data, from app analytics Distimo, indicates that just 2% of Apple’s App store apps are from new developers, while Google’s Play store is only slightly better, with 3%.
The report shows that that new apps are finding it increasingly difficult to break into the top charts lists that ensure high numbers of downloads. In fact, the majority of the top apps are released by existing, established publishers.
App Store
On Apple’s market leading app store, just 2% are new. With hundreds of thousands of apps, newcomers represent an “even smaller part of the revenue”. Just 0.25% of revenue generated by the App Store goes to new apps, while 1.2% reaches new Android app publishers on Google Play.
Google Play
Newcomers to Google Play published more titles than new players in the App Store, 6 versus 2 respectively. In its blog post, Distimo noted that “a plausible explanation is the review policy of Apple App Store makes it harder for new publishers to release applications”.
In smaller countries, the share of new publishers tends to be slightly higher – 6 percent for both Google Play and the App Store for iPhone, Distimo found.
The One Million Milestone
Related to the findings is a look at how many new apps hit that “1 million milestone,” as an example of one’s thjat did break trhough the barrier.
Distimo examined which new apps reached the $1 million revenue milestone as well, and found that the list included big-name brands. Angry Birds Star Wars (and HD) made one million dollars in a week, as did Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Temple Run 2. Eight of the top ten were also paid apps, half of which used in-app purchases. Two were free apps with in-app purchases.
“Generating $1 million in revenue has been a tougher task,”says Distimo, “with “only a few” titles reaching this milestone in the first one month of availability. The fastest new revenue-generating apps, Angry Birds Star Wars, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Temple Run 2, all come from an existing franchise.”
Methodology
The company examined the trends in the iOS App Stores and Google Play from October 2012 through January 2013.
Read the full blog here
