Every month, mobile monetisation outfit Fiksu releases metrics about iPhone downloads and cost of getting users.
As with all such data, the monthly absolutes are a bit meaningless. It's only when you compare month-on-month that you see the trends.
And this month sees a massive trend in terms of downloads.
Cooking the books
Tracking the average daily number of downloads from the US top 200 free apps, Fiksu says the total dropped a massive 30 percent in March to 4.45 million.
That's the lowest the monthly total has been since before the iPhone 4S was released. In February, the daily download total was 6.35 million, .
There are two possible reasons. One is that in March was a quiet month, without any holidays, exciting Apple news or major free game releases.
The other is more sinister, however, as during February and March Apple cracked down on the use of bot farms.
These are banks of computers, which are used to automatically download free content from the App Store to boost chart position.
Either or
Fiksu is even-handed in its evaluation of the situation.
"An unexpected contributing factor could be the decline in the use of robotic install tactics by app marketers responding to Apple's new policy," commented CEO Micah Adler.
However, others in the industry were much more forthright in their comments, with accusations that the practice was industry-standard for many developers and publishers, especially the well-funded social mobile outfits.
Dog don't bark
Fiksu also tracks the Cost per Loyal User Index.
This is based on the amount of cash it costs a publisher to get a user who will start their app up three times or more.
It dropped marginally in March to $1.30, from $1.31 in February.
This also suggests Apple's ban bot farms was the major reason for the drop in downloads, as by the laws of supply and demand, it should have risen sharply if there were a third less real people downloading apps.
You can see Fiksu's research, which is generated from more than 21 billion mobile app actions and more than 280 million downloads - here.
News
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
News
Feb 28th, 2017
CPMs are falling on Android and iOS but users aren't sticking to new apps for long
Top Stories
News
11 hours, 1 minute ago
Nintendo releases first official statement on "the successor to Nintendo Switch"
News
11 hours, 30 minutes ago
Microsoft closes Mighty Doom dev Alpha Dog, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and more
News
11 hours, 46 minutes ago
Nintendo made $10.8 billion in FY24 with mobile and IP income up 81.6%
Feature
12 hours, 24 minutes ago
Mobile Mavens: The industry has its say on Squad Busters ability to draw in “untapped audiences” with its “influence from a range of genres”
Feature
May 7th, 2024
Hot Five: Supercell’s Squad Busters supremacy, Brawl Stars bounces back, and a games industry journey at King
Feature
May 7th, 2024
April 2024 mobile game charts: Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile loses launch momentum and Brawl Stars’ astronomical rise
Events
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Develop: Brighton 2024 | Europe | Jul 9th |
Mobidictum Meetup Barcelona September 2024 | Europe | Sep 1st |
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2024 | Nordic | Oct 1st |
Popular Stories
Feature
May 6th, 2024
Mobile Mavens: The industry wades in on Squad Busters from its “transformative impact” to being “corporate box ticking”
News
May 1st, 2024
Supercell invests in web3 startup GFAL led by King, EA and Activision Blizzard veterans
News
11 hours, 46 minutes ago