One of the more interesting additions to the updated iTunes 9 Store is a new “Top Grossing Apps” view. This is displayed bottom right on the main App Store screen in iTunes, and has also been added to the Mobile App Store in iPhone OS 3.1, under the Top 25 tab.
As a developer, this view is fascinating. For example, in the UK app store, the number 1 app by revenue is the £59.99 “TomTom UK and Ireland” app, even though this app only makes number 97 in the Top 100 Paid Apps chart. That’s a huge discrepancy – the 97th best-selling app is currently making more money than any other app in the UK. Compare that to the second-place app by revenue, another turn-by-turn navigation app (CoPilot Live UK and Ireland), which is priced at £25.99. This app is at number 41 in the Paid Apps charts. Continuing down the list, in third place by revenue we have Modern Combat: Sandstorm (£3.99, 5th in the Paid Apps chart), followed by TomTom Western Europe (£79.99, not even in the top 100 Paid Apps), Scrabble (£2.99, 15th) and UNO(£2.99, 16th).
What does this new view tell us?
- None of the top ten highest grossing apps cost 59p (the lowest possible price in the App Store), and all are at least £1.79
- £2.99 or £3.99 games are making substantially more money than 59p chart-toppers
- The Paid Apps chart (which we’ve relied on for App Store statistics for some time now) is not representing the true economics of the App Store
- CoPilot costs less than half the price of the TomTom app, suggesting that CoPilot could and should have charged more
- Established brands (TomTom, GameLoft, EA) can and should charge more for their apps if they want to make money from the App Store – their brand and their quality will result in high-value sales, if not top chart positions