The mobile app ecosystem is quickly being dominated by a pervasive army of free apps, especially in Apple’s App Store.
When Apple’s mobile storefront opened four years ago, the overwhelming share of new releases were paid apps. But that reality has changed sharply in the last 48 months.
“The App Store is a very healthy ecosystem with well over 1 million apps ever created and approved by Apple,” a new report from Appsfire reads. But free is the category expanding most rapidly today.
Free is clearly prevailing over Paid. 74% of apps published in 2008 were Paid, in contrast to 34% this year. This can be explained by the growing popularity of in-app purchase as a way to efficiently monetize an app.
So how are developers earnings a living? According to the established trend in the mobile app ecosystem, most developers now support their apps with a healthy mixture of ads or in-app purchases.
Appsfire released a comprehensive infographic to put the changing landscape of mobile apps into perspective. Check it out below.
