Why You Should Consider Creating Free Apps
Prices vary widely in the app store—some are free, some are a few dollars, and some charge pretty big bucks. Launching a Paid Mobile App? Good Luck with That, one of our September posts from Mike Brown, highlighted that 89 percent of apps downloaded are in fact free.
But free apps—while they might cost nothing—are generating some serious revenue. According to Ryan Kim at Gigaom: "…freemium apps on iOS have quadrupled over the last 24 months. And for Google Play, worldwide freemium revenues have grown 3.5x in 2012. Now, freemium apps generate 69 percent of the worldwide iOS app revenue and 75 percent of global Android app revenues. Meanwhile, premium app revenue from paid download apps has remained relatively flat over the same periods."
Now developers have two reasons to launch their app for free. However, the free model isn’t for every app. With some apps, it does make more sense to charge a small fee. But whatever pricing model you choose, make sure your app is high quality and well tested.
For paid apps, you’re charging your users—so it seems more obvious to test well. But free apps must hold themselves to the same standards for several reasons, including maintaining your business’ reputation and keeping mobile advertising or in-app purchases going. If you don’t launch a high quality app, you won’t see any revenue.
