App Store Stats

It's hard to find good numbers on apps sometimes, so this article is a welcome find. You won't be surprised to learn that there are now over a quarter of a million different apps... and that games are the second largest category (books being the largest). This chart breaks down the apps by categories, and shows the price distribution. You won't be surprised to learn that the Free and 99 cent categories are the biggest (but there are over 86,000 apps at 99 cents, slightly more than the 80,000 free apps.

It's really impressive to note that this has all occurred in two years. What will it look like two years from now? I'd venture to guess that we'll see far more apps, making marketing even more important. Pricing may shift higher, unless advertising generates more revenue than it has so far (such a pricing shift may also be driven by the iPad apps, which are priced higher in general). I predict we'll also see an App market on Apple TV, which will spark explosive growth of that platform much as it did for the iPhone.

I wish I could say we'll see significantly improved App Store organization and search tools to make it easier to find apps, but I'm not holding my breath. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, though. Apple? Anyone listening there? I wonder if you could sell search terms in your App Store...