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Apple iPad triggers record 1,600 new iPhone OS app starts in January

Friday, February 12, 2010 · 12:54 pm · 15 Comments

“The launch of the iPad has been a catalyst for an unprecedented surge of iPhone app development compared to Android, analysts at Flurry found today,” Electronista reports.

“Following the anticipation of the iPad and its immediate wake, iPhone app development nearly tripled from less than 600 new apps in December to over 1,600 in January,” Electronista reports. “Many likely view the iPad launch as a potential land rush where an early app will get more sales.”

Full article here.

Phillip Elmer-Dewitt reports for Fortune, “‘This represents the single largest spike in Flurry history, with over 1,600 new iPhone OS application starts for January,’ wrote Flurry’s Peter Farago in a report posted Friday. What caused the spike?”

Flurry attributes it to the imminent arrival of the iPad: “Historically, Flurry has measured surges in new application starts within its system in anticipation of new device launches, including for the Motorola Droid and iPhone 3GS. As such, we hypothesize that excitement generated by Apple’s iPad event in January is driving this growth. For developers who get a jump on customizing their applications for the iPad, there may be an opportunity to stand out early on, and earn more downloads.”

Full article here.

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Comment Feed

15 Comments

ET

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:10 pm · Reply

Apple iPad triggers record 1,600 new iPhone OS app starts in January

Something wrong with the math here – 16,000 x 12 months equal 19,200 apps per year. That doesn’t make sense. A quick search reveals that over 170,000 apps have been approved and the iPhone has been available for 31 months so the math works out to an average of 5,483 +/- apps per month.

Try again……
ET

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:12 pm · Reply

er, more math problems….. make that 1,600×12=
NCG598

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:18 pm · Reply

Yea, you will also have to include dummy companies that Microsoft has set up to plunder the land.

They also need to get mobile 7 pinned down and the iPad will give them the ideas to copy(uhhhhh) innovate Win Mo 7.

Too bad it will be a laterial movement of the bar instead of trying to rise it.
HughB

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:23 pm · Reply

1600 X 12=19,200 in a year. 140,000/19,200=7.3 years. Since the iPhone has not been out nearly that long it looks like a major decrease in starts, doesn’t it? That does not sound so good. What am I missing here?
Derek in Milan

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:27 pm · Reply

Yes, this article makes no sense.
Its the waiting for the iPad to actually SHIP that causes these brain farts, I suspect.
Edster

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:50 pm · Reply

I think this just applies to their site or system. I was puzzled at first too. 600 new apps seems absurdly low.

I have no idea what exactly flurry is
Snow Leopard

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 2:53 pm · Reply

People aren’t writing as many “fart” apps any more. So, I’m assuming, of these 1,600, more will be higher quality apps.
Mehran

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 3:07 pm · Reply

There would have been a mad rush in the early days of iPhone too. Like any other business the rate for new applications would have decreased down to 600 in Dec (so it is reported). The increase just shows that there is fresh momentum to create new applications for the platform.

There is every possibility the rate will continue to go higher in 2010 and perhaps it will start to slow down this time in 2011 before Apple adds new functionality to future versions of iPad which will encourage a new wave of new products.

I am so excited…
freefromdesign

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 3:51 pm · Reply

Oh great, 1600 new apps that took only a couple weeks to program. These are gonna be such high quality, I can’t wait.
HughB

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 4:32 pm · Reply

@free
They only said STARTS, where did you get couple of weeks? Maybe some will take a quite a while and you might just have to wait. You have to wait for the iPad anyway so just relax.
maclouie

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 5:01 pm · Reply

I wonder how many new apps are written for mature platforms such as Mac and PC. I am sure not as many as at first. It’s only natural that the number of apps per month goes down over time. Says nothing about the usefulness or value of the platform.

How many new word processors are being released each month for PC and Mac. Only 600 new apps for iPhone doesn’t mean anything.

Also, the number of apps purchased per month doesn’t mean much unless it is coupled with other data. Users only need so many apps. It’s called saturation – not death of a product.

The 1600 for Jan for the iPad are probably ports from a small screen to a big screen. Probably no indication of quality.
simple

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 5:24 pm · Reply

We can find out how many developers downloaded the iPhoneOS SDK. We can determine how many Apps are in the App Store. How can anyone know how many apps have been started by developers? No one knows.

Flurry makes some code that can be added to apps so the developer can find out what devices are running their software and what OS version it’s using. Analytics code. Let’s the developer collect info about their users. Flurry reported iPads using apps using it’s code back in January.

The 600 vs 1600 numbers count how many new apps are using Flurry’s analytic code. Not how many apps are released.

The numbers are unimportant. Only look at the trend.
qka

Friday, February 12, 2010 - 6:35 pm · Reply

Flurry’s numbers are based on the number of programs that have embedded Flurry’s tracking code, and that code calling home.

Not all apps use Flurry’s tracking code. Flurry’s numbers are low, and thus the confusing numbers by all the short sighted calculator wielders above.

Sometimes there is more to the story than is reported.

BTW, all this about Flurry has been documented here at MDN.
Jack

Sunday, February 14, 2010 - 5:34 pm · Reply

You cannot increase the number of apps being created eternally. There are only so many practical and worthwhile things you can do with a computer.
Kevin Winsness

Monday, February 15, 2010 - 11:31 am · Reply

150,000 apps is just the beginning! Once the iPad is available we will see this number double within six months!