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Android’s Google Play store boasts of a total of 2.2 million apps available for download. Apple store comes a close 2nd with 2 million apps. While more than half these apps are free to download, several researchers have noted a decline in the download rate of smartphone apps.
According to a recent report for Nomura Research, based on data from SensorTower, downloads of the top 15 apps in the US had dropped 20% year-on-year. Outside the US, these apps only saw a 3% growth rate. The research also said that over 65% of users had downloaded 0 apps per month, while only 2% users download 8 apps + in a month.
Another survey by Research Now claimed that 49% of US smartphone users used only 6-10 apps a week.
So what’s happening? Are we seeing the start of a downward turn?
The mobile app boom had kicked off mid 2008 when Apple had introduced the App Store. Since then, it has seen an upward rice with Android introducing the Play Store & Windows coming with its ‘Marketplace’.
But if you are an independent app developer & publisher, you will know that the fizz has, well, fizzled out. Most users are not even interested in scrolling through their respective app stores to look for “interesting” apps. So even if you have developed a kickass app, chances are it will go unnoticed.
Even the very biggest app publishers have seen a downward trend since most users already have all the apps they want &/or need & they are weary of looking for new ones.
So the question now on everyone’s mind is: is time running out for smartphone apps?
According to Quartz that quoted a comScore report, 1 possible explanation was that people just didn’t need that many apps, & the apps people already had were more than suitable for most functions. Almost all smartphone owners use apps, & a “staggering 42% of all app time spent on smartphones occurred on the individual’s single most used app.
Another likely reason was that it’s still not easy enough to find & download new apps. Apple’s App Store has been criticized time & again for its bad search features with users having to rely on top lists. Similar is the case with Android phones, too. Then, of course, there are hardware issues such as limited storage space, etc.
Lack of storage space was a contributory factor in the downward turn of app downloads. We have all deleted less useful apps in a frenzy to free up storage space in our smartphones just so that they don’t slow down. Some apps make the cut & we download them again, but some are just not worth the pain, are they?
This decline, if it continues, will eventually also mean a loss of revenue for all the app stores & that might be a mighty blow. Microsoft, for example, was not getting an adequate response for its Windows phone apps store, mainly because it had apparently failed to make the same leap that Android & Apple phones had been making in terms of app availability & ease of operation.
A segment of experts have also predicted the rise of bots, & that they will take over from where the apps left off. Microsoft, for example, is betting big on bots. So much so that it announced the integration of bots into Skype in February.
The bottom line simply is that nothing lasts forever. Smartphone sales have plunged & it certainly is not surprising that app downloads are following the trend.
However, let us not forget the big exceptions like Snapchat & Uber, the latter seeing a growth rate of 100% this year. Snapchat’s download rate has now eclipsed Facebook. According to a report by Bloomberg, Snapchat had more than 100 million daily users who spent an average of 25 to 30 minutes on the app each day. It also said that its video views are 10 billion videos a day. Facebook videos registered about 8 billion views a day.
Clearly, smartphone apps are not the “hot” property they were a few years ago. Which may come as sad news for developers, more than users. And if nothing drastic is done in the apps landscape, the slide, many in the field are afraid, may only continue.
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