
US iPhone users spent, on average, $79 on apps last year, up 36% from 2017 - kjhughes
https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/11/us-iphone-users-spent-79-last-year-up-36-from-2017/
======
jammygit
It seems weird to say users are spending the money on apps if this includes
Amazon or Uber. The users are not spending the money on the app, they're
spending it on the product and/or service with the the app in the middle
facilitating the arrangement. Its different than purchasing software that does
something by itself for you (like a spreadsheet). Eg, one doesn't say that
customers spend $X per year __on __retail, they are said to spend it via
retail.

Not that the app isn't an important part of it, but a helpful and
knowledgeable employee in a retail environment doesn't get the same headlines,
even though s/he isn't a buggy, heavily gamed algorithm recommending baby gear
to people who just had a miscarriage.

'Users are spending 36% more on eCommerce than 2017' doesn't have as nice a
ring to it.

...also, what is the mean number? How much of that $79 is from there being no
meaningful laws against Whaling?

~~~
meritt
It claims to cover IAP [1] only, which wouldn't include Amazon nor Uber as
those payments go directly to those entities. Also many companies who formerly
relied on IAP, like Netflix and Spotify, are starting to bypass it entirely
[2].

[1] [https://developer.apple.com/in-app-
purchase/](https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/)

[2] [https://musically.com/2018/08/22/netflix-joins-spotify-in-
by...](https://musically.com/2018/08/22/netflix-joins-spotify-in-bypassing-
apple-in-app-subscriptions/)

~~~
dpitkin
I use apple pay inside Uber do we think that counts?

~~~
ceejayoz
That shouldn't count as an IAP.

------
webmobdev
In India, Apple continues to screw itself with its short sightedness by
insisting on credit / debit cards for all Apple Payments and refusing to
integrate itself with India's many innovative digital payment systems.

Even though I have wanted to pay for a few games and 1 or 2 really good apps,
I can't because Apple doesn't accept my indian cards nor other alternative
indian payment systems.

Nor can we buy iTunes / App store credit online. Nor are we permitted to use
iTunes / App Store gift certificates from US or elsewhere.

Personally, I wonder if this is because:

1\. The central bank's (RBI) rule that financial data of indians should be
stored in india.

2\. Indian payment systems make it difficult to bill someone automatically
(without the involvement of the payee).

3\. Indian payment systems prevent "leakage" of your "credit worthiness" /
credit rating, unlike credit cards.

~~~
masonic
You can't buy iTunes gift cards with any of those payment systems?

~~~
tapland
Not online. It requires you to go buy a card with a value of <not the cost of
the app>.

I bet people who really need it top their accounts up (can you do this in the
Apple store, or is it left on the card?) but you can imagine how much of sales
are impulse purchases.

------
llukas
Title is bit misleading (non-native speaker here). Article is about in-app
spending.

~~~
criddell
Would things like Evernote subscriptions count towards that?

~~~
Operyl
If purchased through the app and you were billed by the App Store (i.e. you
were asked by iOS to use Touch ID/FaceID/Apple ID password) then yes.

------
roenxi
This information isn't very useful without knowing how the number of iPhone
users are changing.

This could be interpreted as a happily growing ecosystem, or it could be
interpreted as budget oriented users being squeezed off the platform leaving
only people who are locked-in to subscription apps. Presumably it is the
former, but we can't tell that from the article because there are no absolute
numbers.

~~~
graeme
Apple said at their last call that they have 1.4 billion active devices, up
100 million from a year ago.

Not quite people, but the userbase appears to be growing.

------
post_break
On android I spent a fortune because I knew I could refund it if the app was
bad or didnt do what I wanted. On iPhone I'm scrooge. So far for 2019 I've
spent $1.

~~~
rhinoceraptor
I'm not sure what the mental block is for people. A $5 app is considered
premium, and that's what plenty of people spend on coffee on their way to work
every day.

~~~
malux85
I hear this all the time, like somehow the only factor in the propositions is
economic.

When someone spends $5 on coffee, they know exactly what they are getting,
it’s a regular purchase, produced by a formulaic method, with consistent
quality, that energises them for the day ... that also hooks into their
biochemistry and there’s a certain about of conditioning / addictive behaviour
there too.

Compare that to the purchase of an app. There’s no biochemical enhancement,
the quality of apps varies wildly and is unpredictable until after purchase,
there’s little / no ability to refund. There’s no addictive hook to buy an app
(I know some apps are addictive - that’s different)

How are those propositions even nearly close? The decision to purchase is not
purely economic.

~~~
ok_coo
I think this hits close to home for a lot of people. It's not about the small
amount of money to pay for the app, mostly what stops me is that I don't know
what I'm getting for that $5. It feels like I'm potentially throwing money
down the drain.

I've also paid for games apps (the most was around $20, I would pay more). I'd
like to pay "premium" $ for a premium product on the app store, but I
generally don't see that as an option. Periodically, I'll glance at the games
available on the iOS store and the quality is night and day compared to
PC/console.

Maybe people think apps are not worth buying because they're charging pennies?
What happened to making a solid product and not being afraid to charge for it?

------
diafygi
I wonder what the median amount is. Is the distribution of revenue heavily
lopsided to the whales?

~~~
koolba
I recall reading that some game companies have teams dedicated to catering to
individual whales.

~~~
GaryNumanVevo
definitely true, some friends of mine are in the mobile gaming space and it's
ridiculous. Some companies even have a direct line to their biggest spenders
to put in features, skins, etc.

------
__alias
While I spent a fair bit using app services (Uber, lime primarily), I've just
thought about it and realised I'm a heavy mobile phone user but have spent <
$10 in total on apps in the last 7 years of being an Android phone user. As a
fellow app developer that makes me feel pretty guilty but there's always a
free version of whatever I need and I don't play any games.

Is there any must have quality paid apps out there anybody suggests?

~~~
londons_explore
On Android, the average spend per user is _much much lower_ , partly because
the audience is different, but also because free Android apps tend to be much
better than free iOS apps.

There are lots of things on iOS you can't do without some paid app. Even silly
things like "make my voice sound like Micky mouse on phone calls" is a paid
app on iOS.

------
crooked-v
I wonder how much of this is the recent push by many devs for subscription
apps, and, to go with that, what the breakdown is of the actual subscription
apps vs people preemptively buying other apps to avoid future subscriptions.

------
KiDD
How much of this was due to Fortnite I wonder?

~~~
pentae
$0.00. Fortnite bypasses Apple IAP.

------
pishpash
Boxed software used to cost that much or more each. $79/year is meager.

~~~
benj111
Boxed software, as in productivity software that you might well use for your
job? Well yes.

Even looking at something like games though, deflation is reasonable. That
game I bought in the 90s

A. Probably still works now, isn't reliant on external servers. So cost/year
is still lower.

B. Was resalable if I didn't like it.

C. Faced a lot less competition.

------
m0zg
That seems kind of crazy actually. I maybe spent $10 over the past year on
apps, if that. I don't need yet another notetaking app, and I refuse to be
bled dry by subscriptions.

------
innagadadavida
How much of this is due to people not upgrading to new iPhones as the OS got
optimized and they got free batteries - people spend more money when they have
more left.

------
randomacct3847
I would love to hear success stories of indie app makers. There must still be
a sizeable long tail of indie made apps that people are buying...

~~~
makeshifthoop
I was reading Indie Hackers the other day and came across
[https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/turning-a-small-
app-f...](https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/turning-a-small-app-for-
myself-into-a-17-000-mo-business-cb972c5273)

------
ppeetteerr
Why don't we wait to see the actual report? This article seems like the cart
leading the horse.

~~~
jaypeg25
Yeah well that's TechCrunch.

------
mlthoughts2018
As someone who has never once paid for an app or paid for in-app purchases,
nor do I allow apps that show ads, I find this staggering.

It’s not a judgment or anything. Just the idea of this is so bewildering and
alien to me.

~~~
peapicker
As a developer who gets paid to write code, when I find an app I really like,
I also pay for it, if it seems reasonable.

Like Overcast for podcasts, Nlog Synthesizer for use with my Korg nanokey for
on-the-go music composition, filimic pro forr video and others.

~~~
Symbiote
We have different hobbies, but as a supporter of free software and a developer
who works on open source code 99% of the time, I try and use open source apps
as much as possible.

I recognise though that there are whole categories of app that need real
money, for staff or servers (dating, online gaming).

~~~
y2bd
If a developer open sourced their application but still charged for the binary
on the App Store, would you pay for it?

~~~
striking
Yeah. If I don't expect to make changes to the application and only act as a
consumer, then it makes more sense economically for me to pay so I can
download it and get updates without having to compile it and load it on my
device every time.

Also, isn't it nice to help developers that make nice applications, especially
when they offer their apps for a reasonable price?

~~~
jmknoll
100% yes. We need more nice applications made by indie developers and small
agencies. Apps that charge a couple of dollars, or even a modest subscription
fee, and don’t harvest their users data, record their screens for marketing
purposes, or run the microphone to build an advertising profile.

I don’t understand how, on a forum full of people who build software for a
living, there can be so much opposition to this idea.

------
martin-adams
I wonder if they do strictly mean iPhone or if that also includes iPad sales.
I know I've spent more than $79 on iPad software which some I can also use on
iPhone.

------
habosa
Does this count Spotify and Netflix and other subscriptions offered via IAP?

~~~
dangoor
Yes, I think this counts IAP subscriptions. Note that Netflix just stopped
accepting payment that way, though, so for 2019 Apple's results will no longer
include Netflix subscriptions.

------
meritt
.

~~~
threeseed
Yes developers install this:
[https://sensortower.com](https://sensortower.com)

And my guess is, similar to polling, that the company predicts from the data
they do have.

------
farazzz
What if this is partly due to non-spenders downloading less apps?

------
Kiro
I've spent probably tens of thousands of dollars on mobile games.

(I posted this as a counter-example to all the "This is baffling. I wouldn't
spend a single dollar on apps." comments here.)

~~~
sametmax
I have two conflicting stereotypes: on one hand I assumed people spending that
much on mobile games would be uneducated, on the other hand I also assume
people on HN are more educated than average.

Thanks for making me coming out of it.

So, now, you made me curious. How did that happen ?

~~~
Kiro
It depends on what game. Note that these are not just pointless money-grabbers
but games I actually enjoy a lot and have played for years.

In some it's the feeling of becoming powerful. In some it's out of frustration
knowing it would take days doing something I can spend a few bucks on to skip.
In others it's about collecting stuff. And in some it's solely about
supporting the creators.

I also use it as a kind of reward. I treat myself with a big legendary chest.

With that said, I'm 100% guilty of falling for the artificial sensation
they've manufactured with all the animations, sound effects and deals they put
in front of me. These companies are experts on making IAPs "feel good".

Finally, I have a lot of money (made a big exit) so it's not really a big deal
for me.

~~~
zeroname
For 10,000$ you can make a lot of "feel good" things happen in the real world.

[https://watsi.org/](https://watsi.org/)

[https://kiva.org/](https://kiva.org/)

[https://zidisha.org/](https://zidisha.org/)

[https://milaap.org/](https://milaap.org/)

~~~
Kiro
I spend way more on charity but thank you.

------
fucking_tragedy
I want to see what the App store whales spent.

------
KorematsuFred
I checked my last years spend and it was $2.

------
sandworm101
Zero dollars from me. I buy plenty of software for desktops/laptops but have
yet to find any app worth real money. But i dont play mobile games, at least
beyond sodoku. Freemium games are probably the real driver. 75$/year is about
how much i spent on NES games back in the day.

~~~
rhinoceraptor
There are a ton of apps that are "expensive", but worth it. Omnifocus,
Overcast, Soulver, 1Password, Blink, Working Copy, Coda, Procreate,
LumaFusion, Affinity Photo, etc.

People spend upwards of $1000 on a phone, but are unwilling to spend a couple
bucks on good software for it. It's ridiculous.

~~~
jclardy
I agree. For me it isn’t even that - if an app can save me 5 minutes of time
per week it is easily worth $5. Or if it is an app I use every day, if the
experience is that much better it is worth the subscription to me.

