More App Store sales figures
Last week, iPhone app shop tap tap tap released preliminary sales data for its iPhone applications. The figures were interesting (and impressive), but at the time, only seven days of data was available. As Steve Jobs told the Wall Street Journal on Monday, the App Store's first month generated about $30 million US in sales, and I was interested in how that would translate on a micro level. Yesterday, tap tap tap's John Casasanta posted its full July sales totals (save a few territories, which will likely have little effect on the final tally), allowing us to do just that.
As with the data released last week, the numbers are extremely impressive. Apple's reporting process calculated sales from June 29, 2008 through August 2, 2008. However, as John notes, because the App Store didn't launch until July 10, 2008, the sales data is actually for 24 days.
For tap tap tap's two applications, this is the breakdown:
Where to Go (App Store link) sold 24,094 copies at $2.99 a copy in 24 days.
Tipulator (App Store link) sold 3,168 copies at $.99 a copy in 24 days.
After Apple's 30% cut, tap tap tap's net revenue was $52,815 US for 24 days. Wow. That averages to just about $2200 US a day.
Read on for more analysis.
Unfortunately, tap tap tap doesn't have complete access to full sales metrics for the sales period (apparently, Apple's reporting system only shows the individual sales data for the previous seven days, with the oldest data rolling off each new day), so for the first month anyway, it's impossible to actually pinpoint sales trends. In subsequent months, assuming developers gather the report data each day, daily metrics can be better analyzed.
As John points out in his blog, sales rank appears to have an enormous effect on overall sales viability. Because the iPhone App Store interface only shows the top 50 applications, following below that threshold can significantly impact sales. John opines that dropping below the top 100 (which is what iTunes will display in the "top" section) pretty much equals application purgatory.
This makes sense -- at least for developers seeking sustainable high sales rates -- and will probably prove more prescient as more and more developers and applications enter the App Store. Even more than it already is now, visibility will become the name of the game. I'm also interested in the effect the iPhone's launch in 22 additional countries next week will have on developers who are in the store now -- especially for those developers that are bordering or below that top 50 line.
I'm enjoying watching the App Store develop and evolve as a marketplace. Sound off with your thoughts in the comments.
