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每日观察:关注本土化应用的收益及下载量影响(10.8)

发布时间:2012-10-08 14:04:26 Tags:,,

1)应用追踪服务App Annie最近数据显示,只有日常下载量超过5.4万次的应用才有可能跻身iPhone热门免费应用榜单前10名,前100名免费iPhone应用榜单日常下载量门槛则是1.3万次。

Distimo数据曾显示,今年5月份时美国iPhone免费应用榜单前25名的日常下载量门槛是3万8400次,去年12月份美国前10名免费iPhone应用榜单日常下载量门槛为8万次,但自从苹果开始严禁刷排名机制后,iPhone应用日前下载量开始急剧下降,在去年12月至今年5月间下滑了将近15%。

当前的iOS下载量数据表明,随着iPhone 5发售,传闻中的iPad mini以及圣诞假期即将到来等因素,势必将推高iPhone免费应用前10名日常下载量门槛。

2)手机游戏公司Tinyco高管Rajeev Nagpal最近指出,公司免费游戏《Tiny Village》目前在Android平台收益仍然超过iOS版本。

Tiny Village average revenue(from Tinyco)

Tiny Village average revenue(from Tinyco)

该游戏当前在Android的每付费用户平均收益(ARPPU)仍比iOS版本多20%,并且在过去两个月中,Android版本的每周活跃独立用户平均收益仍然高于iOS版本,其转化率增长也非常迅速,已经接近iOS版本的水平。

conversion iOS vs Android(from Tinyco)

conversion iOS vs Android(from Tinyco)

Animoca营销及公司发展高级经理Sunny Cha也表示,公司旗下Android游戏的DAU平均收益在国内及海外市场均显著增长,总体下载量也不例外,虽然在Google Play的ARPDAU仍然落后于亚马逊Appstore和T-Store(韩国移动运营商SK Telecom推出的第三方Android应用商店),但也已经在迎头赶上。

3)据pocketgamer报道,Distimo最新报告指出开发者推出本土化应用有助于提升下载量和收益,在亚洲地区尤其如此。

Distimo调查了12个国家/地区(游戏邦注:包括美国、加拿大、英国、德国、法国、俄罗斯、意大利、日本、韩国、中国、巴西和澳大利亚)的iPhone和iPad应用商店,并发现除了中国之外,英文版应用已称霸其他国家前200名免费应用榜单。

Most-Popular-Languages-in-the-Top-200-per-Country-revenue(from Distimo)

Most-Popular-Languages-in-the-Top-200-per-Country-revenue(from Distimo)

在中国App Store,有73%下载量最高的应用支持本地语言,还有69%应用支持英语,这一数据表明本土化策略对中国市场来说尤为重要。

在中国、韩国和日本市场前200名热销榜单中,多数应用支持本土语言非而英语。这种情况表明本土化应用在亚洲市场更具盈利性。

The-Impact-of-Adding-the-Native-Language-iphone(from Distimo)

The-Impact-of-Adding-the-Native-Language-iphone(from Distimo)

Distimo报告还指出,一般来看,iPhone应用推出本土化版本之后一周下载量会提升128%以上,收益则提升26%左右。中国和日本市场的本土化应用所提升下载量最为明显。但报告也指出,这种下载量及收益增长未必与应用支持本土化语言有关,一般情况下,应用版本更新通常也会带来下载量和收益增长。

4)CouponCodes4U.com最近调查报告显示,RIM新平台BlackBerry 10(简称BB 10)在iPhone用户中颇有支持率,有55%的iPhone用户称这一平台令人“印象深刻”(游戏邦注:其调查对象为1000名手机用户,其中有近400名iPhone用户;RIM在今年夏季宣布BB 10的发布日期已从2012年底延迟至2013年第一季度)。

其余多数受访者称自己对这一平台还不够了解,有14%自称对BB 10并不感兴趣。

blackberry-10(from berrytimes.cn)

blackberry-10(from berrytimes.cn)

在那些对这一平台感兴趣的受访者中,多数人表示BB 10的最大吸引力在于“更大的电池”,另外8MP的摄像头以及标准键盘或触屏设置选项也是BB 10的优势所在。还有四分之一受访者称BBM是该平台最大特色。

5)据《华尔街日报》报道,最近有消息称苹果已经投入生产所谓的7.85英寸“iPad Mini”,科技博客AllThinsD曾在上月报告称苹果可能于10月份发布这款新设备,但苹果至今未回应这一消息。

ipad mini(from the-digital-reader.com)

ipad mini(from the-digital-reader.com)

6)Kaspersky Lab最近调查报告显示,有21%英国成人用户表示如果家中着火,自己最先抢救的东西是笔记本电脑、平板电脑或智能手机。

从年龄分布来看,有35%介于18-24岁的用户选择了这一答案。

虽然多数用户甚为珍视这些科技设备,但却有65%智能手机用户、16%笔记本用户以及50%的Macbook用户却并未采取让这些设备免受网络犯罪行为攻击的防御措施。

7)俄罗斯数据分析公司Empatika最近指出,在苹果App Store对热门应用发表评论的用户,一般更愿意分享应用的积极内容,但他们的评论内容与星级评价情况并不对称。

Empatika分析了约50万条用户评论,并观察了评论者对Facebook、Twitter、YouTube、Instagram等App Store热门应用的评价情况,结果积极评价内容占比高达52%,好坏兼具的评价占比43%,而消极评价仅占比5%。

app-reviews(from techcrunch)

app-reviews(from techcrunch)

这种情况表明,用户在苹果官方应用商店表现出了一种喜欢发表积极评价的倾向,如果只看评价内容,实际上无助于开发者了解应用的真实表现情况。

Empatika还发现有70%左右评价内容与其相应的星级评价结果并不匹配,例如某款应用获得了5颗星评价,但评论内容却是“我喜欢它的理念,但这款应用每隔几分钟就崩溃一次,根本不能用。”

由此可见,开发者如果仅看星级评价结果也并不能得知应用的实际表现情况。Empatika建议开发者在用户运行应用一段时间后再请求他们通过App Store发表评价内容,或者设置一个独立的反馈工具让用户直接与开发者互动,这样也有助于获得更准确的用户反馈信息。

8)据mobile-ent报道,Facebook日前宣布其活跃用户已达10亿。其中有60%用户(6亿)是通过移动平台访问Facebook,而在7月份时这一数据则是56.86%。

facebook-mobile(from techieinsider.com)

facebook-mobile(from techieinsider.com)

有81%的Facebook活跃用户来自美国和加拿大,Facebook目前日活跃用户是5.52亿。

9)Gigaom Pro最近针对应用开发者调查报告指出,有半数以上受访者的付费应用月收入不足500美元(这可能与多数受访者并非全职开发人员有关)。有352名受访者中,有75%拥有其他工作,或者只是将开发应用视为一项副业。有三分之一应用开发者的每月广告收入不足100美元。

app-development-income(from gigaom)

app-development-income(from gigaom)

仅有5%受访者月收入超过2万美元,他们多数来自大型应用开发公司。

10)据pocketgamer报道,苹果App Store在上个月增加的一个审核新条款指出“以类似于App Store的方式展示非开发者自己产品的付费或推广应用的做法将被苹果禁止”,观察者认为这一描述可能将涉及FreeAppADay等应用推广服务,以及其他应用交叉推广服务(例如Tapjoy),甚至是GREE等手机社交游戏网络都有可能受到牵连。但目前尚无关于苹果是否将强制推行这一政策的报道。

App-Store-Icon(from twitter.com)

App-Store-Icon(from twitter.com)

而据Techcrunch报道,苹果的SKStoreProductView Controller Class Reference页面指出,App Store添加了一项新的开发者功能SKStoreProductViewController,它将呈现一个支持用户通过App Store购买其他媒体内容的商店,允许开发者的应用展示该商店并允许用户从中购买其他应用。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)It takes 54,000 downloads to reach the top 10 of the free iPhone app charts

Kathleen De Vere

Want to hit the top 10 on the free iPhone app charts? You’ll need to rack up more than 54,000 downloads a day to do it, reports app tracking service App Annie.

According to figures released today in App Annie’s August index, it currently takes more than 13,000 downloads a day to break into the top 100 on the free iPhone app charts, and 54,000 to reach the top 10.

The numbers are right in line with earlier figures from Distimo, which reported it took more than 38,400 downloads a day to rank within the top 25 of the U.S.’ free iPhone app charts back in May.

Our readers may remember that last December Distimo reported it took over 80,000 downloads to crack the top 10 of the free app charts in the U.S. — a significantly higher figure that was being driven up by download bots. Once Apple banned the practice, the number of downloads required to chart app declined noticeably, falling by almost 15 percent between December and May.

While today’s figures indicate iOS downloads are climbing back to same level they were at a year ago, it’s unlikely download volumes will reach the same peaks seen in December 2011, when users and bots were downloading the top 200 free iPhone apps more than 6.04 million times a day.

That said however, with the combination of the iPhone 5 launch, the heavily rumored upcoming iPad mini launch and the Christmas holidays it seems all but assured the number of downloads required to have an app in the top 10 of the free iPhone app charts will increase significantly by the end of the year. App marketers should plan accordingly.(source:insidemobileapps

2)Google Play revenues up 137% since January, payment conversion rates within “kissing distance” of iOS

Kathleen De Vere

Google Play apps are earning much more now than they did just six months ago. According to app store analytics provider App Annie, Google Play revenues increased by 137 percent during the first seven months of the year — a trend several developers with apps on Google Play are seeing in both the domestic and international markets.

According to San Francisco’s TinyCo — which has long touted its ability to monetize on Android and has been showcased by Google as an Android success story — its free-to-play title Tiny Village is still earning more on Android and seeing better retention than it does on iOS.

According to TinyCo’s head of product Rajeev Nagpal, the game is currently seeing 20 percent higher average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) on Android. In addition, for the past two months the game’s average revenue per weekly active unique has also been higher on Android than on iOS. More importantly though, he explains, conversion rates have been improving rapidly on the platform.

“Payer conversion, which we believe to be the final frontier on Android, is getting progressively better and is almost in kissing proximity to that of iOS platform,” he says. “The shift has been very exciting and encouraging for us.

While Nagpal believes there are probably numerous reasons behind the increase in Android conversion rates his company is seeing, its likely at least some of the increase is to due to Google’s savvy use of sales to promote app purchases. In the past 12 months the company has tied three milestone app store events to massive sales that discounted the price of popular paid titles to just a few cents.

As we’ve said before, it’s a smart strategy that’s helped the company round up a lot of payment information — back in March sources told us that the first sale in December 2011 was able to add credit card information for 1 million new customers — convincing many Android device owners to make their first purchase. As the iTunes App Store and Amazon’s App Store have proven, once a consumer is set up to make near frictionless payments, they’re far more likely to keep making them. Google also packaged its popular Nexus 7 tablet with a $25 Google Play gift card that required the user to add their credit card information before they could redeem it.

We also reached out to the Android-only Animoca to see if the company — notable for its high-volume “app supermarket” strategy — had seen it was also seeing its apps earning more now than they were at the beginning of the year.

According Sunny Cha, Animoca’s senior manager of marketing and corporate development, her company has seen its average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) increase by a significant margin in both domestic and international markets.

“We’re seeing a faster rise than what App Annie is reporting,” she explains. “Not only ARPDAU, [we’re also seeing] an increase in total download volume across the board. ARPDAU for Google Play is still behind Amazon and T-Store (the third-party Android App store operated by South Korean mobile provider SK Telecom) but it’s catching up.”

Cha reports that in markets where carrier billing is prominent like Japan and South Korea, Animoca isn’t seeing a significant increase in ARPDAU (as those markets already monetize at an extremely high rate), but like TinyCo it is seeing a noticeable uptick in the number of transactions, which has also contributed to rising the company’s revenues.

South Korea’s Com2uS also echoes the sentiments of Animoca and TinyCo. “Google Play is definitely a fast growing market,” explains Don Lim, the company’s U.S. general manager. “T-Store and Google Play are the two biggest Android markets in Korea, and Google Play is growing at faster rate this year.”(source:insidemobileapps

3)Distimo: 90% of the top apps delivered in English, but localisation increasingly important

by James Nouch

According to the latest report from Distimo, localising an app into a region’s native language will produce an appreciable increase in downloads and revenue.,

The firm claims this effect is particularly marked in Asian territories.

However, the size of this impact varies considerably, and Distimo has found that English is still far and away the single most important language for developers to support.

On the download

Distimo’s report examined the iPhone and iPad App Stores in twelve countries – the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil and Australia.

It found that, in every one of those countries except China, the top 200 free apps charts were dominated by applications that support English.

Overall, 90 percent of the top 200 most downloaded apps included English-language support.

In China, however, 73 percent of the most downloaded apps include native language support, while 69 percent support English – a figure that suggests localisation is particularly important to the Chinese market.

Big earners

In terms of revenue, however, the picture is slightly different.

While a lack of native language support may not actively dissuade customers from downloading an app, players seem much more likely to spend on apps that support their mother tongue.

This is especially true throughout Asia, and Distimo found that in China, Korea and Japan, more of the top 200 grossing apps included native language support than support for English.

All of which suggests that localising a game can be very worthwhile, although it obviously remains a question of balancing the likely cost of such an undertaking against the estimated increase in earnings.

The bottom line

According to Distimo’s numbers, though, localisation certainly seems to boost downloads.

“On average, the applications increased their download volumes on the iPhone by more than 128 percent during the next week that followed after introducing the native language app compared to the same period before the introduction of the home language,” the report noted.

“This percentage was lower for the increase in revenue, which was around 26 percent. Applications in China and Japan experienced the highest improvement in terms of total downloads.”

The report notes that this increase can’t be entirely attributed to language support, however. Apps typically see some increase in downloads and revenue following updates, almost automatically.

You can download the report on the translation of apps in native languges from Distimo’s website.(source:pocketgamer

4)Half of all US iPhone owners ‘impressed’ by BlackBerry 10

by Keith Andrew

Its launch may have been delayed and RIM’s executives reduced to performing dodgy REO Speedwagon covers to court developers (see below), but all may not be lost for BlackBerry 10.

A consumer study carried out in the US by CouponCodes4U.com suggests RIM’s new platform is scoring highly with iPhone owners – exactly the market that, judging from what’s been shown of BB10 to date, the Canadian giant is aiming for.

Eye on iPhone

Number sourced from a sweep of more than 1,000 mobile consumers across the country suggested that, of the near 400 that have owned an iPhone at some point, 55 percent admitted to being “impressed” by what they’d seen of BB10 to date.

The majority of the rest said they needed more information, while 14 percent claimed to be unimpressed by RIM’s forthcoming offering.

Of those interested, the majority said a ‘bigger battery’ is what is currently drawing them to BB 10, while the 8MP camera and the option to buy either a QWERTY or touchscreen device was also a plus. Finally, a quarter claimed BBM is the platform’s stand out feature.

RIM announced back in the summer that the release of BB10 had slipped from an intended launch before the end of 2012 to a debut in the first calendar quarter of 2013.(source:pocketgamer

5)[RUMOR] iPad mini in production — Apple has already started production on a 7.85 inch “iPad Mini”, according to the Wall Street Journal.(source:insidemobileapps

6)UK adults would rather save their phone than an antique in a fire

by Mike Shaw

One in five would rescue their laptop, tablet or phone from a house fire over heirlooms or photographs.

Your house catches fire and you only have time to grab one thing before you have to flee; what do you take? A beloved portrait, that guitar signed by Slash, perhaps the urn filled with your dog’s ashes?

It seems that an increasing number of people in the UK would opt to save their gadgets.

A new poll from Kaspersky Lab shows that 21 per cent of UK adults said they would grab their laptop, tablet or smartphone over anything else.

When broken down into age groups, 35 per cent of 18-24 year olds would rescue their gadgets over anything else.

In fact, a laptop, tablet or smartphone is the number one item the British public would save.

Weirdly, a further 11 per cent said they would take their car keys, even though they can be easily replaced. Goes to show that it’s not just in times of crisis that humans act irrationally, just the idea of a crisis can do the same.

David Emm, senior security researcher at Kapersky Lab, said: “We are a nation of technology lovers. Where once we might have run back into a burning building to save a treasured piece of jewellery or a priceless antique, we would now prefer to save our laptop, tablet or smartphone.”

The same research also revealed that despite tech devices obviously being close to our hearts, 65 per cent of smartphone owners, 16 per cent of laptop owners and 50 per cent of Macbook owners have not taken steps to protect their devices from cybercrime.

David Emm added: “With all our most treasured memories and personal information saved on these devices, it seems crazy that UK consumers are still not protecting them from the silent attack of a cybercriminal.”(source:mobile-ent

7)Study: Users Both Mostly Positive And Inconsistent In Reviewing iOS App Store Titles

Darrell Etherington

Interesting new stats from a study shared with me by Russian data analysis firm and app studio Empatika provide a picture of how some of the most popular apps in Apple’s App Store are reviewed, and what strategies seem to work best in securing positive feedback. Empatika co-founder Bayram Annakov explained in an interview that for the most part, app reviewers among the top apps seem to want to share only positive things, and that often, the words of reviews are disconnected from the star-based rating that accompanies them.

Empatika used sentiment analysis to analyze around 500,000 reviews and see what reviewers were saying about some popular App Store titles, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and more. What they found was that of the reviewers covered in the survey, a massive 52 percent posted only positive reviews, while 43 percent posted both good and bad reviews, and only a tiny 5 percent had registered only negative feedback through the App Store itself.

There’s a tendency on the part of app users to only express themselves via Apple’s official marketplace channels when they’re pleased with something, Annakov says, which means that if app developers are just looking at App Store reviews, they aren’t getting the full picture of why their app maybe isn’t doing as well as it could be.

Another interesting find from the Empatika study shows that around 70 percent of reviews have written content that doesn’t match their star rating – so, for instance, one review with a 5-star rating contained the following body text:

I liked the concept behind it, but this app crashes every couple of minutes. Complete unusable.

Likely, if you’ve browsed through user reviews in the App Store yourself for any length of time, you’ve probably seen similar things. And that’s also a problem for app developers, Annakov says, since they’re not getting an accurate picture of user satisfaction if they’re just looking at cumulative number ratings. Sentiment analysis could provide insight into what needs fixing before it goes off the rails, he suggests.

To illustrate what kind of insights can come out of sentiment analysis, Empatika created some word clouds from reviews of the top apps it analyzed. Check out the gallery below to see more, but the one that really stands out is the YouTube app, where “bring the old app” is obviously something users are saying a lot.

What’s the best strategy for App Store developers to take advantage of reviewer positivity bias, and also get some meaningful negative feedback as well? Annakov suggests soliciting an App Store review from your users, but only after they’ve spent a certain amount of time in-app – finding a threshold where engagement levels appear to indicate a positive experience will result in higher ratings. Also, build in a separate feedback tool, where you can solicit honest opinions via direct contact with your users, instead of through the App Store mechanism, which limits what kind of access you can have. (source:techcrunch

8)60 per cent of Facebook’s billion actives use mobile

by Mike Shaw

One out of every seven people on the planet use the site. That’s even more people than own Dido’s album Life For Rent.

Facebook has announced that it now has one billion active users on the site.

The social networking juggernaut has hurtled towards the landmark figure earlier than expected, with mobile providing a significant boost. Sixty per cent (600 million) of those billion users have accessed the site via mobile. Only in July that figure was 56.86 per cent.

The breakdown of users is about the same as we have heard previously: 81 per cent of active users are  located outside of the US and Canada, and the site still sees the same number of active daily users at 552 million.(source:mobile-ent

9)Most app developers make less than $500 a month (chart)

By Rani Molla

We know that not every app is Angry Birds and not every app developer is Rovio. But just how tough are things for the workaday app developer? In a recent GigaOM Pro study (subscription required) of app developers, more than half of the respondents say they make less than $500 a month from their paid apps (see chart below). Perhaps not surprisingly, app development isn’t a full-time job for most of them. Some 75% of 352 respondents either hold another job or do app development only as a portion of their main job. (The picture is even grimmer for developers of advertising-dependent apps — a third of those developers make less than $100 a month in ad revenue, according to the study.)

On the high (and much more rare) end of the spectrum, about 5 percent of app developers in the survey make over $20,000 a month. These developers tend to be part of big app firms.(source:gigaom

10)App Store rule change could kill game promotion services

By Eric Caoili

New changes to Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines could eliminate the third-party app promotion services and affiliate programs that many developers depend on to acquire users and advertise their games.

Implemented last month, the new clause found by Pocket Gamer states that “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.”

That description applies to a number of popular app promotion services like FreeAppADay, as well as the practice of cross-promotion and advertising other applications within a game.

Companies that facilitate the latter practice, such as Tapjoy, and possibly even mobile social game networks like Gree could take a major hit if the rule is enforced.

A great number of developers rely on these services, paying to have their titles highlighted in them. This not only helps them acquire users, but also drives up the download count of their games, propelling releases to the top of the App Store charts, where increased visibility further multiplies game downloads.

Free apps that curate games or highlight deals without charging a fee to developers, helping alleviate some of the discovery problems that platform has suffered due to a flood of releases, could also be affected.

There haven’t been any reports yet of Apple enforcing this clause, but the company has made it clear in the past that it disapproves of developers and services that try to manipulate its charts and user reviews.

Addressing complaints about services that explicitly promise a boost for releases on the App Store’s charts for a fee, Apple advised developers to “avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts” back in February.

At the time, the company said in a statement posted on its developer site, “Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership.”

[Update: A new addition to iOS's Developer Library suggests that Apple might not be completely against developers promoting other apps in their titles, and that the company is actually encouraging it in some cases.

The new developer feature, which was pointed out by TechCrunch, is outlined in Apple's SKStoreProductView Controller Class Reference page: "A SKStoreProductViewController object presents a store that allows the user to purchase other media from the App Store. For example, your app might display the store to allow the user to purchase another app."] (source:gamasutra


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