Only 15% of developers use mobile app stores

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Only 15% of developers use mobile app stores

US programmers boycott stores, angry at revenue share and restrictions

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 12 May, 2010

READ MORE: Metrics | North America | App Store

Usage of mobile apps may be booming, but that is not making most developers happy. Indeed, a full 80% of north American programmers are discontented with the current revenue share arrangements in app stores.

According to the latest in-depth North American Development Survey by Evans Data, 80% of apps creators want more than the typical 70%:30% revenue split. This dissatisfaction is the main reason for boycotting the app store channel - it may hit all the headlines, but only 15% of the developers use stores to sell their wares to mobile users, with more than 50% preferring direct sales to consumers or businesses.

Losing such a big cut of the cost of their software is only one reason to be wary of the much-hyped stores. Restrictive rules are another gripe, with more than 70% of respondents saying they should be free to set their own pricing, and 35% saying there should be no restrictions on content.

"Virtually all of the best known app stores have fallen in line directly with the 30:70 revenue split that Apple introduced, but there could be a big upside for any vendor bold enough to deviate," said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data. "If the app store is more a strategic asset than a revenue center, then providing the developer with a better revenue share model could go a long way toward promotion of that particular distribution channel and thus growth of market share for a technology."

Google and its allies will be pleased with such findings, not only because they imply criticism of the most restrictive storekeeper of all, Apple, but because they suggest developers will support the open web/browser model, with the emphasis on cloud services and streamed content, that Google favors for the medium term (despite its short term Android Market tactic).

Other research backs up Google's view of how the mobile apps world will evolve over the coming years - away from stores. According to new findings from ABI Research, app store usage will peak in 2013 and then begin a gradual decline. This will not just be about the rise of the cloud, as total downloads will continue to grow, but with consumers looking to direct channels and web sites.

ABI says that consumers downloaded 2.4bn apps from smartphone stores last year and this rate will increase to peak at 7bn in 2013. Senior analyst Mark Beccue said in a statement: "App stores aren't going away: following the 2013 peak in demand, the number of downloads in 2015 will have decreased only 7% or 8%. But as our use of the mobile internet evolves, demand will increasingly shift elsewhere." There will also be a rising use of preloaded apps, especially in the mass market, for key functions like social networking.