We’ve covered a couple of Distimo reports in the past because they provide us with some valuable insights on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market based on the startup’s in-depth analysis of publicly available data. Now the company has added RIM’s Blackberry App World store to the fray, which gives us even more data points to compare the rivals’ app pricing and whatnot.
In the latest report (September 2009), Distimo notes software programs for Blackberry devices are considerably more expensive than comparable apps for competing devices/platforms.
In fact, the average price for apps is more than three times higher than the one for similar apps in the App Store and Android Market, which is sort of unbelievable. There’s not a single category where the average price of an app is lower than its equivalent on the latter two application storefronts, and the more serious, business-related tools are definitely much more expensive. Just look at the difference in fees for apps in such categories as Finance, Productivity, Reference, News, Utility/Tools and particularly, Navigation/Travel in the chart below.
Research In Motion has traditionally targeted more of a business audience with its product line, but is that enough of an explanation why developers are pricing their mobile software programs so much higher than their equivalents on the competing platforms? Or are Blackberry users simply more willing (and able) to pay for apps? If so, than the higher pricing is merely a result of simple relation between offer and demand.
Either way, the difference in pricing is quite clear.
Update: as commenter Cameron correctly points out, the minimum listing price for apps that get distributed on App World is $2.99, which is part of the explanation of the huge pricing differences (I doubt it’s the only reason). Note that the store is open for free applications as well (if they generate revenue after download).
The chart also shows pricing of apps for the most popular listings in Apple’s App Store and Android Market are rather similar, with only Social Networking, Navigation & Travel and Productivity showing a bit of difference in asking pricing.
Of course the average price is going to be higher. Blackberry has higher minimum price. Pointless article that states the obvious.
Good point, although it’s likely only part of the reason (first Windows Marketplace stats show the apps on there are priced higher on average too btw) – updated article.
Look at the chart; the minimum price has almost no bearing on the average cost of the apps. If it did, you would see a lot more categories with average prices near the minimum of $2.99, but you don’t. The average prices in all categories are much higher than the minimum, which means that most apps are priced a lot higher than the $2.99 minimum.
You can’t determine whether the minimum price has any bearing on the average by looking at the chart. You would need to see the median price, not the mean. What if there’s only one app in there for $5000?
Well, you missed the point too. If there is a$5000 app there the median will rise to about $2498.50 which is also a little steep no?
You need to look at the modal value. The price around which most apps find themselves pitched.
In fact all three-mean, mode and average are needed for a clear picture.
Well, that pretty much takes the blackberry storm2 out of my running. Whaaap Whaaaaaa FAIL
ahahahah your right.
Competition also drives down prices… The iPhone app store has an order of magnitude more apps (>85,000 vs ~ a few thousand) than the Blackberry.
That said, the two brands clearly (currently) have a different demographic mix, as the article points out. Mind you, RIM’s recent advertising push shows they’re keen to move into the consumer space – app pricing will be an obstacle to that on the evidence shown here.
The key reason why Blackberry apps are more expensive is that RIM has a minimum price on paid apps (which was $2.99 when we joined the developer program).
Hopefully this will impede “the race to the bottom” that’s happening on Apple’s App Store.
The way I see it, that’s like saying minimum wage will impede the race to the bottom in economic terms…if there’s a lot of competition in any market, the market price is going to be affected.
That said, you probably know more about the app market than I do, so if you disagree, I’m interested in your opinion as to why this analogy doesn’t hold.
Sorry – when I was typing the comment, there were no comments
It appears that @cameron beat me to the punch
I love open source. So once things get up to speed, people will have a real choice. Pay or free. Mind you, there are people getting stuff for free anyways lol
I don’t really understand the reasoning for taking the average price. The BlackBerry App World has four versions of Telmap Navigator and four versions of foxNav Navigation. That’s eight times about $50.
If there were 10 versions of these apps available, it really doesn’t reflect how expensive the store is, in my opinion. Aside from that, you can’t really compare stores if they provide different products. It would seem more honest to find some one-on-one matches and compare those prices instead.
Simple question – Who wants to use BlackBerry? In Europe nobody
Perhaps it’s because Blackberry has been a part of the mobile app landscape longer? Mobile apps have always been cheaper than their desktop counterparts, but normal pricing has always been in the $15-$25 range for PalmOS, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry for the past 10 years. iPhone and Android had no established catalogs of apps and have affected the current pricing model. Since apps in their catalog are recent, they start low. Established Blackberry apps are less likely to significantly lower their prices.
FYI I think shazam is free on iPhone while costs $$$ on the Blackberry…
No its free in the blackberry app world.
It comes down to basic economics. There is less competition with Blackberry apps.
Where are the fart apps?
fart apps? ha us blackberry users are smarter we have no need for crap apps
Yes we do :-
http://download...i_bbex2_ENG.jar
Interesting discussion … on the side note – do any one what is distimo.com business model? Why are they providing this data for free?
Hi Ashish,
Monthly reports are provided for free; detailed custom reports are available on a subscription basis. These custom reports offer much more and detailed insights in trends in the mobile app stores, see http://distimo.com/report
This is one (of the MANY) reasons I’m getting rid of my Storm as soon as those Android phones come out for Verizon. I am sick of this paperweight!
download 5.0
go to verizonwireless.com/blackberrystorm and software update
I have come across this link. All about Android Apps.
http://www.just...ation.aspx?ag=3
Nice charts.
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