“Last year, a study concluded that iPhone and BlackBerry users are far more likely to pay for an app — at 57% and 33% respectively,” Mike Schuster reports for Minyanville. “Only 16% of Android users were willing to shell out for a program. Analyst Dean Bubley called paid apps on the Android one of the Biggest Turkeys of 2011. He wrote: ‘There’s a strong correlation between a willingness to spend $$ on apps and willingness to give Steve Jobs $300 gross margin per device. Everyone else counts their pennies & will go for cheap/free wherever possible.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Due to carrier subsidies, to the end user, iPhone costs about the same as a pretend iPhone. The 3GS starts at $49. It doesn’t get much cheaper. Also, of course, thinking people realize that most of a smartphone’s cost isn’t upfront, but in the 2-year plans which are pretty much the same regardless of device.
“Although Android users are more likely to click on apps, developers who are looking for a profit from their hard work are giving Apple first dibs,” Schuster reports. “And Google has taken notice. At the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco this week, Android platform manager Eric Chu said he was ‘not happy’ about the lack of paid app purchases in the Android Market.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Google doesn’t have iTunes. Along with fragmentation and, let’s face it, a user base consisting of freetards and/or less knowledgeable users, the lack of iTunes is Google’s insurmountable problem.
Have you ever seen a beat up VW bug with a Mercedes hood ornament duct taped onto it? Android.
I’m not happy either about Hemodroid. It takes a tube of Preparation H a day to get rid of the pain and itchiness.
That’s funny, because there are plenty of cheap and free apps on the App Store.
Remember all those twofers of Android phones? Someone who was given a free phone because someone else got it for free is far less likely to spend money on it then someone whob ought the phone for themselves. I suspect too that many people who got the free phones and then found out how much the monthly plan was donʻt want to spend more money on the phone.
i’m sure apps can run just as well on Android as they do in iOS, but fragmentation – both in OS updates and market stores – will always be Android’s Achillie’s heel.
“Have you ever seen a beat up VW bug with a Mercedes hood ornament duct taped onto it? Android.“
Priceless.
The 3GS starts at $49. I know — I just bought one for my wife to replace her aged (and broken) RAZR.
Personally, I’m *thrilled* with the Android market, in the same way that I’m thrilled with Ballmer’s visionary leadership.
Traditionally, Apple’s customers have been willing to pay for products. Microsoft and @ndroid’s customers, not so much.
The biggest Android proponents love it for its whole association with the “Open” software movement. For Google this means steal intellectual property to develop Android so it can be given away for free, where it bolsters their predominance in online advertising. To the end users, the term “Open” has come to mean one thing: FREE. For people that believe brilliant software should be given away, no price is low enough to induce a purchase.
It is unsustainable folks.
@jb
“i’m sure apps can run just as well on Android as they do in iOS”
I think this is an over simplification. Some apps will run as well, but some will not. I’ve seen some, as basic as the Address Book, on Android that look the same but do not run as well and lack the polish and physics sophistication found in iOS. Add to this the myriad of hardware and UI overlays, and the end user is faced with a lot of analysis to know what is best. That’s why tech pubs LOVE Android. People need to refer to the “Experts” to figure out what to buy. With iPhone, it is 16 or 32 GB (and soon to be White or Black). Simplicity: it’s not overrated.
The mindset of the typical Android geek is get it for free one way or another. Some big surprise this is.
“Not happy with” = “Don’t give a Sh**”
We ripped off other companies IP to create our software and are only interested in selling ads, but we have to appear to be unhappy for our hardware “partners”.
Google is catering to the “free” side of the mobile market. They’re the folks who expect to pay for nothing more than their phone contracts. Nothing more.
Even the Android OS is “free”, what the hell did Google expect? Tens of thousands of Android users crowding the streets tossing bouquets of flowers and cash at their liberators’ feet?
Great take, MDN. And C1, witty and snarky as ever!
As the owner of a MacBook Pro, two iPod touches, and a 64 GB iPad 3G (all of which I love), I’m sad to say that I bought a Virgin Mobile Android phone (Samsung Intercept) last weekend. I’ve never been a cell phone fan and have alway had the cheapest phone/plan possible in the past. Ninety percent of the time, my cell phone isn’t even turned on. However, I decided that I needed more connectivity (email, texting, etc…) for increased work responsibilities.
As much as I love the iPhone (iOS in general), I couldn’t justify the huge two year expense of the standard AT&T or Verizon plans. I spent $200 for the unsubsidized Intercept and it will cost $25 a month for unlimited internet/texting with 300 minutes of voice. I’m happy to say that I haven’t downloaded a single “paid” app on Android yet, even though I’ve probably spent $100+ dollars on iOS apps.
I wish I could have purchased an iPhone 3G or 3GS and utilized the Virgin Mobile plan. I’d be willing to bet that the stats showing Android surpassing iPhone usage is due to the proliferation of cheap Android solutions. Hopefully the iPhone 4 CDMA model will be available on Virgin Mobile in a few years.
@MDN
This is a better analogy than your VW with the hood ornament:
http://jalopnik.com/5741219/for-12000-civic-doody
The problem is even Android supporters do not know how the Android Market works. You do not need Google approval except for when you do. You can submit any app except an app that is a market place that competes with or is outside of Google. Android users don’t know where to best get an app. Android pushers don’t know how to sell an app.
@ Mr. Reeee
C1 snarky? Nooooo….
Goople is about to go down.
Chi Chu Chu…
Too late… The train’s left the station
Google thought/wanted everything to be web-based, like ChromeOS. They didn’t really want stand alone apps that can bypass Google’s “involvement.”
Google’s app store was supposed to be a stop-gap solution until their super-duper webapps/OS took over.
The purpose of the free Android OS was to disrupt the association between the derivative hardware manufacturers and Microsoft. The strategy has worked flawlessly.
Advertisers take note: Android users are cheap-ass devil customers who’s only loyalty is to a lower price (even when it’s only a perception of lower price). People who think .99 is too much to pay for an app are not really the droids you’re looking for. When your message reaches Apple customers, they are the customers willing to pull out their credit cards if they like what they see.
Android sufferers get crappy shareware quality apps that push ads at them and steal their personal, private information.
Why is this so hard to understand? Because it looks like an iPhone.
What if it’s the USERS who aren’t pleased with the Andriod app store?
What if the USERS KNOW that none of the apps are tested or vetted?
What if the USERS aren’t willing to take a chance on having their fake iPhone PWNED by MALWARE? There was another Android Trojan horse reported last week.
What if Google have tarnished the reputation of Open Source software? Hmm?
Google is the only one making money in the Android world. As long as Google gets plenty of advertising revenue, they don’t give a damn about users (most of them are locked into the OS version they have and can’t upgrade), or developers (losing money hand over fist) or manufacturers (most are making a loss on handsets).
It’s a fools’ paradise and it’s hard to see the sort of long term future which is built into Apple’s thriving ecosystem.
Schmidt’s vision was always limited, which is why Page took over, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to unravel the mess.