A survey of the top grossing apps on the US App Store by appFigures shows a steady increase in the proportion of free releases, proving titles equipped with IAPs can really pay off.
Price wars
Numbers taken by appFigures in May suggest 31 percent of the top 400 grossing apps in the US are free releases with IAP.
When that list is cut down to the top 25, however, that proportion jumps to a dominant 51 percent.
"The freemium model appears to be a viable means of making revenue," appFigures summarises.
"Not only this, there are limitations to how profitable a paid app can be. Even if a paid app is extremely popular, the large majority of apps are dirt cheap. Most of the paid apps in all three of these tiers are priced at 99c."
Indeed, in terms of the top 25 grossing apps, 55 percent of the paid apps are 99c, with 18 percent coming in at $2.99.
[source: appFigures]
