Study: Free applications make up 81% of App Store downloads

Free applications represent 81 percent of App Store downloads across Apple's iPhone platform according to data released by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Piper Jaffray research indicates that free apps account for about 4 billion total App Store downloads--iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users presently download over 16.6 million applications each day, almost double the 8.9 million daily downloads via Apple's iTunes multimedia storefront. Munster adds that average selling price among the top 50 premium App Store applications for iPhone and iPod touch is $1.49--among the top 30 paid iPad apps, the average price jumps to $4.66.

Earlier this month, Apple said developers have now earned more than $1 billion in App Store revenues--Munster believes that Apple's own App Store earnings equate to $428 million since the marketplace opened, explaining that while Apple claims a 30 percent cut of all downloads, it must give 20 cents plus 2 percent to the credit card company and 1 percent per app for processing, working out to $189 million in gross profit on paid apps. "This does not factor in the roughly $81m Apple has spent since launch to deliver the 4b free apps that have been downloaded," Munster adds. Assuming the figure is correct, $189 million represents just 1 percent of Apple's $33.7 billion in gross profit earned since the App Store opened.

For more on App Store revenues:
- read this AppleInsider article

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