Is the Apple App Store losing momentum or is a late spring and early summer download dip to be expected?
According to a new report from Fiksu – the fast growing mobile app user acquisition platform – mobile app downloads continued to decline in April 2012, while the cost to acquire loyal users simultaneously picked up.
Movement in the social networking and games categories in the Apple App Store introduced new mobile advertising opportunities and heightened competition, causing the mobile marketing costs to increase, the report suggests.
The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) dropped by 4.9 percent to 4.23 million daily downloads, down from 4.45 million in March.
Despite the dip, no one at Apple is going into panic mode with regard to this apparent download dilemma.
“April’s continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month,” said Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu. “Additionally, app marketers continued to scale back their use of robotic install tactics in response to Apple’s policy on third-party marketing services.”
“However, we observed more aggressive advertising spending as marketers moved out of the first quarter lull and began to seek new opportunities to compete for rank especially in the dynamic social networking and games categories, which experienced volatility during the month,” Adler concluded.
