The Fiksu Blog

iPhone App Downloads Continued to Fall in April While Competition Heated Up

Viki Zabala — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:47:53 +0000

Our April Fiksu Indexes indicate that mobile marketers began picking up the pace as they moved out of the first quarter, a historically quieter period of time for app development and promotion, into the busier second quarter leading up to the summer. In particular, marketers aggressively sought new opportunities to compete for ranking in the dynamic social networking and games categories which experienced volatility during the month.

Here’s a snapshot of the latest data:

The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) dropped by 4.9 percent to 4.23 million daily downloads, down from 4.45 million in March.
The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index rose by 12.3 percent in April to $1.46, from $1.30 in March.

Movement in the social networking and games categories in the Apple App Store introduced new mobile advertising opportunities and heightened competition, causing the mobile marketing costs to increase. In particular, Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram helped draw increased attention to these hot categories during April.

But as competition heated up and marketing costs began to rise, iPhone app daily downloads continued their downward descent. This movement was expected as no major events sparked discovery during the month, and we continued to observe app marketers respond to Apple’s policy on third-party marketing services (which had spurred wide industry speculation and a flood of news stories throughout March and into April).

Thanks to all who covered this month’s Index data, including Sarah Perez of TechCrunch, Kathleen DeVere of Inside Mobile Apps, James Nouch of PocketGamer, John Mello Jr. of PC World, Shawn Hess of WebProNews, Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent, Kevin Stout of 148Apps and Dianna Dilworth of MediaBistro.

App Store Download Volumes Still To Bounce Back From Bot Farm Ban

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

"April's continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month," explained Fiksu CEO Micah Adler.

App Store downloads are on the decline, while the cost of acquiring loyal users is increasing, according to the new monthly figures from mobile app marketing firm Fiksu.

The company's App Store index measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free iPhone apps in the US.

For the month of April It shows app downloads continuing to fall to a daily average of 4.23 million after a considerable January boom and then a sharp drop last month following Apple banning bot farms.

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iPhone App Downloads Dropped Again In April, As Apple’s Bot Crackdown Continues

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

In April, the App Store Competitive Index, dropped by 4.9% to 4.23 million downloads, which is down from 4.45 million in March, 6.35 million in February and 6.79 million in the first month of 2012.

Mobile app downloads continued to decline in April and the cost to acquire loyal users picked up, reports mobile marketing firm Fiksu in its latest report out today. This downward trend was expected, as no major events sparked app discovery during the month, explains Fiksu CEO Micah Adler. However, mobile app marketers were particularly aggressive in the social networking and games categories during April, both of which experienced volatility throughout the month. With the former (social networking), the reason had to do with the $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, which drew increased attention to the category. There were also a number of new game releases in April, which led to increased interest and competition among the developer community in that category, as well.

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Fiksu: iOS App Download Volume Down 8% Year-On-Year, But User Acquisition Costs Rise

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Fiksu attributes the continued decline to two factors — first, lower public interest in the absence of a major Apple event or product launch; second, the continued fallout of Apple’s decision to punish developers who use download bots to artificially inflate their app’s chart position.

iOS app downloads in April were down for the third month in a row, declining 4.9 percent to an average of 4.23 million apps a day, according to user acquisition company Fiksu.

According to the company’s App Store Competitive Index, the volume of daily app downloads for the top 200 free apps in the U.S. has has fallen 37.7 percent since the all-time peak of 6.79 million downloads per day in January. App download volume is also down 8.24 percent year-on-year. In April 2011 Fiksu reported U.S. consumers downloaded an average of 4.61 million free apps a day.

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iPhone App Downloads Continued to Fall in April While Competition Heated Up, Report Fiksu Indexes

Seth Wynne — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:55:30 +0000

Marketers Jump on New Opportunities in App Store's Hottest Categories, Driving Up Rank Competition

Boston, May 29, 2012

Fiksu, Inc., the industry's first cost-effective mobile app user acquisition platform spanning the global mobile ecosystem, today reported that mobile app downloads continued to decline in April, while the cost to acquire loyal users picked up.

Movement in the social networking and games categories in the Apple App Store introduced new mobile advertising opportunities and heightened competition, causing the mobile marketing costs to increase. In particular, Facebook's acquisition of Instagram helped draw increased attention to these hot categories during April.

The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) dropped by 4.9 percent to 4.23 million daily downloads, down from 4.45 million in March.

The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index rose by 12.3 percent in April to $1.46, from $1.30 in March.

The Fiksu Indexes measure monthly fluctuations in competition for rank in the Apple App Store, and the cost to acquire loyal users¹, helping mobile app marketers benchmark their performance against industry averages.

"April's continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month," said Micah Adler, CEO, Fiksu. "Additionally, app marketers continued to scale back their use of robotic install tactics in response to Apple's policy on third-party marketing services."

"However, we observed more aggressive advertising spending as marketers moved out of the first quarter lull and began to seek new opportunities to compete for rank especially in the dynamic social networking and games categories, which experienced volatility during the month," continued Adler.

For Fiksu's full analysis, visit http://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes#analysis.

Data for the Fiksu Indexes was sourced from among more than 24.9 billion mobile app actions – such as app launches, registrations and in-app purchases – and more than 357.6 million downloads recorded by apps marketed via the Fiksu for Mobile Apps user acquisition platform.

1. For the specific purpose of the Fiksu Indexes, a loyal user is defined as someone who opens an app three or more times.

Media Contact:
Jill Newberry
InkHouse (on behalf of Fiksu)
(781) 966-4100
fiksu@inkhouse.net

Viki Zabala
Fiksu, Inc.
Director of Marketing
(855) 463-4578
press@fiksu.com

App Downloads Continue Falling, Cost Per User Rises: Fiksu Monthly Report

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Fiksu CEO Micah Adler called the downward trend "expected" adding that "no major events sparked discovery during the month" and noting app marketers had "continued to scale back their use of robotic install tactics in response to Apple's policy on third-party marketing services."

In the latest set of monthly indexes from mobile app user acquisition platform Fiksu, iPhone app downloads continued to decline for the third month in a row, while the cost to acquire loyal users — users who open an app at least three times after downloading it — crept up to the highest price of the year so far. The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index, which marks the average number of daily downloads throughout each month on 200 most-downloaded iPhone apps in the U.S., fell nearly 5 percent in April, to 4.23 million daily downloads, from March’s figure of 4.45 million. The numbers had been dropping since January’s high of 6.79 million, a record figure that Fiksu credited to users loading up new devices with apps following the holiday season.

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Apple App Store Downloads Sink in April

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

According to Fiksu CEO Micah Adler, the April decline wasn't surprising. "April’s continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month," he said in a statement.

Downloads from Apple's App Store declined in April as the cost of landing loyal users increased, according to Fisku, an app ranking firm located in Boston.

Daily downloads of the top 200 free apps in Apple's App Store dropped by 4.9 percent to 4.23 million, down from 4.45 million in March, Fiscus reported Tuesday. The decline comes a month after Apple celebrated breaking the 25 billion mark in app downloads at the store.

At the same time, the cost to app developers to corral loyal users climbed 12.3 percent in April to $1.46, from $1.30 in March.

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iPhone Downloads Fall 5% As Competition Increases

Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu comments on the trends in iPhone and other app downloads: “April’s continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month.

According to the Fiksu App Store Competitive Index, app downloads from America’s top 200 free iPhone app providers, have declined almost 5% from March through April.

They also report that the average cost for securing a loyal customer is on the rise, mostly due to increased competition in the app marketplace. The cost went from just $1.30 in March, to $1.46 in April. That’s a more than 12% increase.

While iPhone downloads went from 4.45 million in March down to 4.23 million in April, they claim that the changes could also be due to a lack of significant events in the United States that would otherwise spur on a need for discovery and the subsequent download of apps.

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U.S. Government Ordered to Go Digital with Apps

Viki Zabala — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:09:38 +0000

The president himself is on board the mobile app train, and is actively urging government agencies to go mobile this week. And in other news, the “Big Apple” leads Millennial Media’s Q1 device ranks by a wide margin (28 percent for brand, 15 percent for the iPhone), with Android coming in at a strong second. Read on for more…

In an effort to “better serve the American people,” President Barack Obama has issued an order for all government agencies to offer at least two services, used by the public, available in the form of mobile apps within the next 12 months. Mashable is reporting on the newest memo to come out of the White House, entitled “Digital Government: Building a 21^st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People,” which says that “for far too long, the American people have been forced to navigate a labyrinth of information across different government programs in order to find the services they need.”

TechCrunch is highlighting Millennial Media’s latest report, which indicates that Apple remains the strongest brand leader and most popular device maker on the Millennial ad network, with Android coming in at second. When examining popular apps, the report found that the games category remains the most popular, growing by 10 percent over last year. Music and entertainment took the number-two position.

From ads and apps to commerce and gaming, Business Insider is reporting on the Mobile Advertising Conference, which will take place in New York on June 14. We’ll be attending to learn about what is in the pipeline for the fast-growing world of mobile advertising. There is still time to sign up!

Micah Adler, CEO and Founder of Fiksu, Named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Finalist

Seth Wynne — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:24:59 +0000

Boston, May 24, 2012

Fiksu, Inc., the industry’s first cost-effective mobile app user acquisition platform spanning the global mobile ecosystem, announced today that CEO & founder Micah Adler was named a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 program. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Finalists are selected in a number of industry categories by a panel of independent judges, including previous winners of the award, leading CEOs and private capital investors and other regional business leaders. Awards will be presented at a special gala on June 21, 2012 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Mass.

Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn and many more.

An academic turned prolific technology entrepreneur, Micah Adler combines rich industry insight with complex technical knowledge to innovate mathematically oriented solutions to complex business challenges. Prior to founding Fiksu, Micah was CEO, president, and co-founder of Adverplex, a search engine marketing (SEM) optimization company, and co-founder, president and board member of CourseAdvisor, which was acquired by the Washington Post Corporation in 2007.

Micah launched Fiksu, Inc. in April 2011 to provide a unique and innovative solution to the daunting mobile app marketplace by focusing the business on developing and deploying algorithms and expertise into a technology platform to help other mobile app brands grow their app business. Today, leading brands like Groupon, VH1, Barnes & Noble and Hearst Magazines, along with today's hottest game developers and deal sites, are among the many savvy mobile advertisers that have already turned to Fiksu to help them achieve their mobile app marketing goals.

Within the mobile app space, Fiksu’s future growth plans include geographic expansion in Europe and Asia as well as industry-leading implementation of emerging technologies surrounding real-time bidding, mobile web ads and privacy issues. The company is actively hiring for its Boston headquarters and Northampton, Mass. locations. For more information, please visit: http://www.fiksu.com/company/careers.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R)

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.