App downloads doubling but 89% are free. 3 Dollars looks like your maximum pricing.

The App market, largely developed and driven by Apple, continues to explode. Facebook App store and Amazon's similar offering, are coming up on the rails though with Facebook having the power to take a greater hold on the Apps market.

However, interesting fact is that it's driven by Apps that are free. 89% of them. This year they expect about 46 billion app downloads - nearly double the 2011 figure - and the price for those that do charge is circa 3 dollars (the cost of 90% of "paid for" Apps).

What all that means is that App developers need to think of other, new ways to make money than purely the cost of the download. Perhaps generating subscriptions or getting margin from purchases using the App.

Worse still, advertising.

In line with that, Google's YouTube have just launched an Iphone App in the Apple store. For the first time they're generating Advertising through pre-rolls on the App which they share (small share as it is) with the video owners. It's also going to be a better experience with "finger slide" making it easier to switch from channel to channel. They also have better sharing from Google+, email and text as well as the old reliables.

So whilst the App market remains buoyant and increasing dramatically, the lesson here is to go free and then generate money some other way. It would seem that a price point of 3 Dollars is about as high as you'll get if you decide to ask for the App to be paid for.

More and more models are being built around advertising revenues.
Which means, more and more hands in the jar.
Which means less and less money to be shared.
Which is exactly what happened in traditional media.

Advertising money is one way to run your business, your App, but increasingly it's becoming difficult. Better models, such as margin on third party sales, are well worth considering as core revenue. Or at least, have two income sources.

Forgive me for linking an Irish App developer whom I have no idea about but no harm to support because it looks imaginative http://www.apps.ie/ 

46 billion downloads.

That's a lot of cut through and imagination you'll need.

There's an App for that.