Freeverse Takes A Look At In-App Purchases And How They Affect The Top Grossing Apps List
October 23, 2009
The App Store's Top Grossing Apps list was implemented during the launch of iTunes 9 with the intent to give higher priced apps that performed well some face time on the front page. Instead of going by units sold, the list goes by revenue. But with the recent change of policy regarding free apps and in-app purchases, some were wondering if the list factors in in-app purchase revenue. The fine folks at Freeverse were wondering this same thing, including if free apps could also make it into the Top Grossing Apps list via in-app purchases, and they seemed to have found their answer.
Freeverse took a look at two of their games, Flick Fishing and Top Gun, both of which were ranked in the Top Grossing Apps list and the Top Paid Apps list at the time of their article and both were priced at $1.99. Flick Fishing was ranked at #97 in the Top Grossing Apps list while Top Gun was ranked #100. In the Top Paid Apps list, however, the list that goes by units sold, Flick Fishing was ranked at #72 while Top Gun was ranked #60.
Flick Fishing contains in-app purchases while Top Gun doesn't, and since the apps share the same price, this data simply proves that the Top Grossing Apps list takes in-app purchases into account. There really is no other explanation, and logically speaking, this would only make sense. The point of the Top Grossing Apps list is just that, to show off the top grossing apps in the App Store. And since free apps with in-app purchases obviously bring in revenue, they should be included in the list.
This would mean that free apps, if enough people use the in-app purchase feature, could actually make their way into the Top Grossing Apps list, which would be an odd site to see to say the least.
[via The iPhone Blog]