Success factors of application stores- User perspective
Over the last one year there has been huge rush of App stores. According to recent WIP report there are 94 App stores, up from 85 last month. Every operator either in emerging or developed market wants to leverage the huge potential of "Data Revenue" and move from dumb pipe to smart pipe scenario. To realize these dreams they are moving towards adopting/developing app stores. Operators are following routes of developing app store in house, choosing white labeled app store or partnering with independent app stores to port in the applications. The first two options leads to app store with intention of creating differentiation and realizing potential of new revenue stream. However the third option is mainly directed towards being "Me too" player. Also it is half hearted attempt of realizing data potential.
The operators use key parameter- "number of applications" while selecting vendor/partner for the application store. But it is interesting to note that there is no definite co-relation between number of apps and possible downloads being generated. GetJar which has more than 70,000+ app and games is seeing 3 million download/day on the other hand Nokia which is having around 1/7th of the App as that of GetJar (around 10000) is seeing close to 2.5 million download per day. This comparison clearly demonstrates the lack of correlation.
In fact it is increasingly being argued by off late that having more app gives rise to problem with discoverability of App and less customer satisfaction. So it is imperative that successful app store to have;
· Discoverability - Apps accessible within 2-3 clicks from home page
· Portfolio management - User ratings, recommendations based on user history, clear categorization of Apps
· Marketing- Mode to let know the users of the latest apps which are relevant to them based on consumer profiling
· Ease of use- Simple process to download apps, Seamless integration with billing system and prevent users from information overload
Further, more importantly the speed of network connectivity. Who wants to spend 15-20 minutes to download a simple app?
Comments
Going backwards from the appstore to the 'app', its worthwhile to think about the way the old 'application' has been given a new truncated name as 'app', shorter and sweeter, for the smaller device rather than a desktop. It has been repackaged in a sleek mobile format by the likes of Apple, and has been sold to us with resounding success. Now if I need to do some task online, I'd probably be telling myself, 'There's a new app for that'.
Coming back to the app store, this article holds tremendous importance for app developers and marketers alike. With the iPhone/Touch/Pad, the concept of App Stores has become a huge success. And with Apple's recent announcement that they are going to bring a native App store to Lion (the next installment of OS X), it is becoming increasingly visible that the concept of easily accessible and easily purchased apps are becoming the story the near future.
Commented by: Mrinal Somani | November 2, 2010 9:10 AM