The mobile application market is still pretty young compared to many industries.  However, not many industries have experienced the explosion of uptake and growth that the mobile app world has seen in the last 15 months.  To lend some clarity on how best to deal with this mushrooming beast is AdMob, the mobile advertising platform, with their study on iPhone and Android App Discovery and Usage issued this past August.

First lets look at the findings.

Point of interest number 1: 90% of app discovery takes place on a phone.  This is a monumental shift from web and desktop applications.  No longer confined to sitting at a computer, people are hunting for new apps from virtually anywhere, to the point where “looking for new apps” could possibly be considered a form of entertainment in itself.

Point of interest number 2: iPhone and Android users are spending an average 80-90 minutes a day using apps.  Granted, this number was arrived at utilizing some assumptions, but even without the weighted assumptions the numbers are still remarkable.  Over a third of iPhone and Android users are on their phones for more than an hour and well over half of iPod Touch users are using apps for more than an hour:

Point of interest number 3: iPhone and Android users are downloading about 10 apps a month and iPod Touch owners are downloading 18 apps a month.  Of further interest is the fact that iPhone users are actually buying the most apps, averaging 2.6 per month. iPod Touch owners are a little behind that with 2 apps per month, surprising given the almost double rate of downloading.  Android is far behind with roughly 1 paid app sold a month per user.

Point of interest number 4: Free to paid upgrading is the most significant driver of paid app purchases.  This holds true and is roughly the same across all platforms.

What This Means for Marketing and Application

1) Visibility in the respective app stores is the number one way to drive downloads. With 90% or more of apps being found from a toilet seat, a bus bench or a couch the absolute best way to drive the sale of your app is to show up in the rankings or other high visibility parts of the app store interfaces.

2) A large portion of users are spending a significant amount of time on their phones. These numbers seem greater than what anyone was predicting two years ago.  Not only is possible to reach a highly targeted and interested audience through platforms like AdMob or Google Mobile Ads, but you can turn around and utilize these platforms to make money by serving ads in your apps.  Or look into mobile branding opportunities that don’t necessarily rely on click-through rates, but are more about a brand getting it’s message to simply show alongside your quality content.

3) Make a Lite version of your application. Study after study has come in over this past year showing that Lite versions drive paid downloads.  Perhaps it’s the double visibility, or the “try before you buy” advantage, but either way, Lite versions boost sales, and if it is simply adjusting or restricting the functionality of what you’ve already built, there’s no reason not to.