Who are top of the apps?

Everyone is always going on about apps, especially people like me in mobile marketing but what are the public actually downloading?

Let’s start with Singapore. What’s App is unsurprisingly the favourite app on the app store according to App Annie for paid apps. On Apple you have to pay whereas on Android for some reason it is free… Disney’s Temple Run is the number two and number one paid for app on the ipad.

VSCO Cam is next which is another instagram variation of taking beautiful photos to share. Yet another version is InstaPlace at number 10 on the iphone which adds words and borders to your photos…Clearly photos are the way to go if you want a successfully downloaded app!

Pages slips in at number 10 on the ipad, a “beautiful word processor” emphasising the different uses that tablets have with smartphones. The only Singaporean app that I can find on iphone in the top 20 is gothere.sg, an app that gives you directions around Singapore. Simple but apparently effective.

The rest of both charts are games, games and more games with the odd exception like Keynote on the ipad for business presentations.

On the free side of things its games all the way with the mighty Angry Birds top of both iphone and ipad charts due to a free promotion.

4pics 1word comes up high on both formats along with a cheat version! It’s a fun puzzle that people will use to kill time when they are bored with all the other games! However they not top of the gross revenue generating chart and only top of the other charts due to a free giveaway.

All-in Fitness Pro App is high up on the free chart and yet is mostly a paid for app. This is fuelled by a constant desire to measure gym workouts although there are many free apps out there which do similar things it gives you hundreds of exercises to do as well as counts calories.

iTeacherBook is an exception to the gaming apps that allows teachers to plan lectures and organise work. WeChat is in the top 20 free apps and is another version of WhatsApp with extra cool features.

Staples like YouTube, Google maps and Skype are popular on ipad but not in the top 20 for iphone.

Interestingly when it comes to highest grossing apps on the ipad not many of the aforementioned are actually featured. Rovio’s Angry Birds have been top or thereabouts since 2010 but the market has changed. Clash of Clans now rules that gaming roost for gross revenues and Angry Birds is down at the bottom of the top 100. 90% of the gaming apps are free to download but charge for extras, it’s a well-worn model that Angry Birds pioneered but are no longer the masters of.

You could argue that Rovio now make more money from brand spin offs and merchandising than app with regards to Angry Birds. Certainly follow up brands like Amazing Alex have disappeared faster than they would have liked.

The Singapore Straits Times is in the top 10 making a rare appearance of a news app. Every other app in the top 30 is a gaming app with added on revenue streams with the exception of a Singapore Chinese newspaper and The Economist.

However they are clearly apps that people have already downloaded and are just using to the max by buying extra features.

On iphone the entire top 30 is filled with gaming apps, people clearly choosing the wider tablet for reading newspapers. The one exception is the fring app for talking to 4 people on video at the same time….not sure I see the attraction of that…just meet in the pub/café and have the same effect but with stimulants!

From a UK point of view the main brands mentioned above also dominate the iphone/ipad app charts demonstrating that apps are truly global power brands. The minor additions not in the Singapore chart are brands like The Simpsons, The Hobbit, Sims and dating brand Match.com, alls till global brands.

The larger regional differences are on ipad and as with Singapore are local newspapers and content providers. Interestingly ITV’s catch-up player beats the BBC iplayer which just beats Channel 4’s catch up player.

On the newspaper front on The Guardian beats The Telegraph which just beats the Times.  They all beat The Daily Mail who beats The Sun. The Economist, interestingly as a UK/US brand, is much further down than it is in Singapore.