Study reveals iPhone apps are instantly forgettable

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 24 Feb 2009 at 09:54

iPhone apps may be selling like hotcakes, but we're bored of them within a day, according to a new study.

A report by Pinch Media, an analytics company which helps developers track the use of their iPhone applications, reveals that of all the users who download free applications from the App Store, only 20% use the app the next day, with that figure dropping dramatically as the days pass.

Regarding paid applications, the return rate isn't much better. Pinch claims only 30% of people are still using the application the day after they bought it. The drop-off in interest over the following days is about the same as for free applications.

Distressingly for app developers, Pinch found that only 5% of iPhone users are still using an application the month after downloading it.

Only 1% of the estimated 500 million downloads the app store has recorded since launch will go on to have "a long-term audience" according to the report.

Unsurprisingly, it is games that appear to be holding people's attention the longest, with Facebook and social notworking sites also doing well.

Pinch Media says it collected its data from "a few hundred" applications that use its hosted analytics product. This includes apps that have been the number-one paid and free applications available in the store.