Mobile app analytics firm Distimo has published a new report outlining the numbers needed to push an app into the top charts on the iOS App Store . These charts are one of the most important ways of app discovery for iOS users, and hence of great importance to developers.
Apple operates three “top†charts on the App Store, one for free apps, one for paid, and one chart for ranking apps that grossed in the most revenue. From Distimo’s report [1] :
An app needed 23K free downloads per day on average to reach rank 50 of the top free charts in May 2013 in the Apple App Store for iPhone in the United States. For paid apps, the average number of downloads needed for this position was about 25 times lower at 950 downloads. An app needs to generate a daily revenue of $12K in order to reach rank 50 of the grossing charts.
The number of course varies depending on time and day. Distimo’s findings show that an app needs to have nine percent more downloads on a Saturday to get in to the top 10 free apps list, while on Sunday the number is 11 percent more.
The analytics firm also took a look at similar numbers for other countries, noted in the graph below:
A major reason behind Apple’s crackdown on services like AppGratis was that they had the potential to game these rankings , and allow developers with deep pockets to buy their way into the top 10 list. A way Apple could counter this is by factoring in not just download numbers, but usage statistics as well when determining the top 10 rankings. Some developers like Marco Arment, however, want Apple to get rid of the top charts entirely [2] , since they believe these charts reward how well the system has been “gamed†rather than the quality itself.
What’s your take on the charts? Do you think they help you find good apps, or do you ignore them and use other channels for discovery?
Links
- ^ Distimo’s report (www.distimo.com)
- ^ want Apple to get rid of the top charts entirely (www.marco.org)
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