Why Are Mobile Application Sales Dropping?

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-are-mobile-application-sales.html' target='_blank'>http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-are-mobile-application-sales.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The e-mail was from the CEO of a prominent mobile app developer, a company you've heard of if you're familiar with the mobile space. He makes software for a broad range of mobile devices – Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, etc. He told me that his overall application sales are disturbing...Since then I've talked with a number of mobile developers, and heard eerily similar stories. Sales are stagnant to down, and the problem's not just focused on one OS."</i><br /><br />This article is a bit long but worth the time to read it. Basically it discuses how mobile application sales are flat or on the decline. The point was made that most new device sales on the MS side were to people (like a lot of us here) that already have devices. In other words not many new users. Since we already have applications we don't buy them again. Give this a read and post your thoughts.

[jfreiman]

I can't speak for others but there are three things that keep me from buying new software.

1. The price. I'll spend $15 for an 'application' and likely $10 or less for a game. I use my phone as a utility device -- not at all like I use my desktop or notebook.

2. Availability for QVGA phones. For example, SmartphoneThoughts listed a site the other day for games, well, only two of their newest games work on the 2125, the other games work on the older sized screens and appear to be end of life. Too bad those were the games I wanted.

3. Bugs! I've purchased too many programs for my phone that don't behave properly. Crashing, memory leaks and buggy -- and this was software I purchased, not freeware.

Until companies realize that people use games and other programs on their phones for mere minutes at a time and need to price their programs accordingly I think customers will shy away from apps that are too costly. Of course, until people start having problems with their phones and need to hard reset them. ;-)

Those are my thoughts on the software industry for phones.

-John
PS. Now where is Dig Dug!!!

[OSUKid7]

For me, it's a combination of things. I have been in the WM field for awhile, so I don't need to re-purchase a lot of apps (although sometimes I do need to purchase the Smarthphone version). Next, I often find that a freeware app does most, if not all, of what the $10 app does. Finally, with an unlimited data plan, I find that with a little effort searching the web, I can just get on the Web from my phone and find the information. For example, I use NewsGator, so I'm currently using the free NewsGator Mobile for WM Smartphones (beta). I did recently purchase the $20 wmIRC 2.0 program, because there's really no competitors in the Smartphone IRC app arena, and I needed to connect to IRC when I only had my phone.

[Pete Paxton]

If someone comes out with a Word compatible program, I'll more than likely buy it.

[cdsh]

Very interesting article &amp; I'm not surprised by its contents.

Following some long hard thought about what I want from a PDA I have recently migrated from a WM PDA, having been a user for a good number of years, to a Smartphone because my conclusion was that I didn't use very much of the capability of the PDA.

My own conclusion was that what I really wanted was:

A Phone
Instant Email (which has been more than answered with the introduction of push email)
Small &amp; easily pocketable
Ability to see my next appointment
Reminders

&amp; all this was answered by a Smartphone without the need for much, if any, add on software.

I do have to say that I have also taken to additionally using a small Diary as I am increasingly embarrased that when trying to agree a meeting date I am always far behind everyone who has a paper diary in being able to see available dates etc.

I have purchased a good number of "add ons" over the years, having been initially "excited" by the possibilities of all the software available, but found that I really didn't make much use of them &amp; after a few months most were removed. The only "add ons" that I have on my Smartphone are "tweaks" which generally are available as freeware &amp; these usually answer my needs.

Additionally, I would agree with the comment that a lot of the software is "buggy" &amp; has memory leaks &amp; in addition I have found that a lot of developers are very unresponsive when problems are encountered.

I have also found that a number of the sites where you purchase the software are really bad &amp; provide little or no customer service.

cdsh

[xultar]

Well, there is only so much you can buy. It isn't like a phone or a pocket holds a lot of software. Developers need to design products completely install on and run from the storage card. With limited space you can only purchase you will use or what will make you productive.

I've bought more than my share of software for my phone and my ppc. I find that I am often limited by the size of the memory on the device.

[Mike Temporale]

2. Availability for QVGA phones. For example, SmartphoneThoughts listed a site the other day for games, well, only two of their newest games work on the 2125, the other games work on the older sized screens and appear to be end of life. Too bad those were the games I wanted.

Some excellent points overall. I singled out this one because a number of the developers I've talked with just don't see the demand and thus haven't spent the time. That creates a chicken / egg issue. Personally, I think developers should be doing everything they can to make their products compatible with the latest versions. A number of developers are small 1 person operation and can't spend the time or money on doing this. As such, they're going to lose out. And so do we. :(

[xultar]

This reminds me that none of the accessory makers considered wasting their time with the 2125.

Speck products and Boxwave didn't create any of the silicone cases. It took way too long for the silicone case to come out...I'd scratched mine and decided not to bother when the silicone cases finally did come out 2 weeks ago.

Maybe they thought people wouldn't buy the 2125 and desided to skip it in favor of the 3G devices. Well now 3G is late and it is too late for them to backtrack and develop. So now there is a void.

:evil:

[Rocco Augusto]

i personally always though people didnt buy software for mobile devices due to sites like handango.com where you have to go through a huge long drawn out process before you can even view software. i mean what do you do if you don't have a device that is listen there? what if a developer forgets to list its software with your device?

then you start racking up download protection fees and people constantly trying to sell freeware to make a quick buck and youre left with a mobile customer with a very bad taste in their mouth. until we have a better venue for purchasing software im sure sales will continue to drop

[egarayblas]

As a customer, my software purchases become less and less because more and more developers nowadays give out FREE updates...which I believe is good.