A new report paints a bleak picture for developers looking to break into the App Store
We all know that the App Store is big business. As we reported earlier this month, developers earned more in 2014 than Hollywood movie studios did from the combined box office revenue in the United States.
But there is a darker side to that phenomenal growth. According to a new report from Adjust, it will be even harder for developers to break into the store in 2015. You can review the complete report here.
During 2014, the App Store grew 60 percent with 890,000 titles available at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, that number grew to 1.42 million.
Adjust says the number of zombie apps has increased from 74 percent to 83 percent. Zombie apps are defined by the report as an app that does not garner enough downloads to rank in top lists on more than two thirds of the given time period. Basically it is an app that requires users to search for it specifically.
That’s a sad number, but not exactly shocking. We’ve known for a while that App Store searching is basically broken, and the trend isn’t getting any better. Apple did made it a little easier in iOS 8 with things like the Explore tab, app bundles, video previews, and more.
But much more needs to be done, especially with the store growing at such a stratospheric rate. Developers without a huge marketing budget will need to find other ways to get noticed.
And here at AppAdvice, we’ll continue to do our best to highlight great apps that might have gone unnoticed otherwise.
For other recent news, see: Another week, another Apple retail store is opening in China, Apple updates iTunes for Mac with new Today widget and syncing improvements, and Adobe releases new iPad apps for avid readers and would-be painters.
