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With all the hoopla surrounding the recent changes (love them or hate them) to Apple’s iTunes, I think the most profound, far-reaching and interesting change happened not to iTunes itself, but rather to the AppStore…and was almost totally unannounced.

Some weeks ago I reported on statements by Microsoft’s Loke Uei that the upcoming Windows marketplace was going to be more focused on how much money an application actually made from sales, rather then just how many times it was downloaded. By focusing on Gross Revenue over downloads, the most useful and successful of the applications would be featured, rather then just the most popular. This was a calculated decision made by Redmond to avoid the “crapware swamp” that many users feel the AppStore has become.

This feeling, that it is getting harder and harder to find the top quality applications using iTunes, has been being expressed more and more by developers as well, as they watch their best efforts being lost amongst the fart jokes, 99 cent games and powertoys that dominate the AppStore. It appears that Apple has finally taken steps to counter it, following the Windows Marketplace model as expressed by Loke, and in doing so has shown a new light on what apps are REALLY the most successful.

In addition to the standard Top Paid Apps and Top Free Apps lists on the front page of the AppStore, that simply listed the most downloaded applications, divided into those that cost money and those that didn’t, Apple has added a third list…Top GROSSING Apps. This new list shows you the most successful apps, not based on how many times they were downloaded, but by how much money they have made. After all, elsewhere on the net the only software that is judged by number of downloads is usually freeware such as net browsers. When you discuss serious software for sale you deal in gross earnings, not number of dls. Looked at in this way, we get a totally different picture of what apps REALLY rule the AppStore.

Here are the top 9 Paid Apps in the AppStore on the 13th of September in my region, rated by number of downloads. As you can see, 99 cent apps rule, with a couple in the five dollar range. All of the top six are 99 cents, and 55 of the top 100 cost 99 cents. Most of the rest are $1.99 or $2.99. The two most expensive apps in the top 100 in terms of downloads are both games, cost $9.99 and come in at #32 and #57.

Looking at the top grossing apps as of the 13th of September in my region, we see a far different picture. No 99 centers in the top 9, and the top grossing app is a professional app for doctors costing $119.99! In fact, there are two apps for $119.99 in the 9 top grossing apps. The first 99 cent app in this list is AppBox Pro at number 11 (number one in the most downloaded list). In all, there are ONLY 15 99 cent apps in the 100 top grossing apps list. The most expensive apps in the list, Lexi-Drugs and iGo Europe are 119.99, and come in at number one and number five.

So what does all this mean? Well, I see it as a clear indication that the AppStore is not as garbage driven as it has appeared to be. What’s more, there IS a way to make money by creating high quality, professional applications for the iPhone and charging fair prices for them. If Steve Jobs was sincere earlier this week when he said that he viewed the iPod Touch as an alternative to netbooks for mobile computing, then the transformation of the AppStore from a novelty shop to a serious software store is absolutely essential.

I think the mix in the 9 Top Grossing Apps is pretty indicative of the way the AppStore will develop in the future, if the vision Jobs talked about comes true for the platform. Five games, two serious business apps, one GPS app, one music app. Looked at that way, I DO see that the iPod Touch will have a future as a mobile computing and gaming device, and if the eventual Apple Tablet does indeed end up being a giant iPod Touch, I think that could be a very very good thing…minus the fart apps of course.

Zealot (473 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).