Consumer Spending on Apps Up 12% Compared to 2016

[DooKey]

According to Sensor Tower, consumers worldwide spent nearly $200M on apps, in-app purchases, and other app related transactions. This was up from $174M last year. I would have thought a lot of this might have been as a result of micro-transactions in gaming, but a huge percentage of the spending was for non-game apps. Frankly, this kind of spending isn't a huge surprise to me since mobile is growing by leaps and bounds. Just goes to show why technology investment for mobile cpu's and other components is the focus for the major foundries.

Our data reveals that Entertainment category apps in particular witnessed tremendous year-over-year growth on the holiday, with consumers spending nearly 98 percent more in them versus a year ago. We estimate that approximately $9.5 million was spent in these apps, which include top earners such as Netflix and HBO NOW, on Christmas, up from about $4.8 million in 2016.

 

[[21CW]killerofall]

I only use free apps and I have never spent any money on in-app purchases. I don't see that ever changing. I don't even have a card linked to any app stores either so there is no way to accidentally make a purchase. There are plenty of good free apps out there.

 

[gunbust3r]

Whats the average per person spend? I'm guessing it went from $1 to $1.12

 

[nutzo]

I only use free apps and I have never spent any money on in-app purchases. I don't see that ever changing. I don't even have a card linked to any app stores either so there is no way to accidentally make a purchase. There are plenty of good free apps out there.

Same here.
My family has spent zero $ on apps and in-app purchases. If the game isn't playable without spending money, it quickly gets dumped.

 

[ManofGod]

Could be because I am on Android now and found a few apps worth spending the money on. Also, I usually buy an app for the additional features and to get rid of the ads, if I used it quite a bit..

 

[SvenBent]

Audio based captcha app for smartphones could probably reduce it a lot.

"To pas your call on to the user of this phone please answer what 2+4 is by using your keypad."
"Please tell me which is bigger type 1 for pig , 2 for elephant. 3 for moon 4 for your mom"

 

[XenIneX]

Whats the average per person spend? I'm guessing it went from $1 to $1.12

$200M / 2.4B smartphone users = about 8 cents a pop.

 

[CAD4466HK]

I've been on Android since Donut, and I've only bought 1 app which was Chomp, and that was just to get rid of the ad's.
I think I paid $1.99 back in 2010??

 

[steakman1971]

I basically don't use many apps. My kids will sometimes get free ones - but they don't ask for paid versions (I wouldn't do it).
I like apps like Dark Sky (weather), Apollo (reddit), My Fitness Pal (so it can tell me how fat I am), a password manager, new apps, few home automation apps, and that's about it. I have other apps on my phone but rarely use them. Really, no interest in playing games on my phone except if I travel (which is rare these days).

 

[ManofGod]

I've been on Android since Donut, and I've only bought 1 app which was Chomp, and that was just to get rid of the ad's.
I think I paid $1.99 back in 2010??

I have probably spent about $20 or so on apps that I actually use. Free is not necessarily better and often more limited, at least for what I want.

 

[CAD4466HK]

I have probably spent about $20 or so on apps that I actually use. Free is not necessarily better and often more limited, at least for what I want.

It all depends on what category of app it is to justify the "Pro" fee. Most apps on Android that you pay for just remove the ad's. Others are like basic trial versions with all the good options greyed out till you go "Pro". Then you have the cash grab apps that are basically useless unless you unlock them, time limit restrictions, gimped compatibility, plus being bombarded with full screen video ad's every time you hit the back button, photo and video editors, MP3 downloader's, etc. comes to mind. There are a ton of good games, as well as utilities that have been ruined by this.

I can't count how many times I found a great app, only to have a "Pro" version of it come out and ruin the "base" version. Or make the mistake of updating an app that I've used for years without reading the comments first.