I’ve been wondering what you’d find out if you took the number of iOS devices sold and then divided the number of App sales so far by that figure — and guess what — the answer’s sixty.
Horace Dediu at Asymco has put the math together, uncovering data which shows over 60 Apps have been downloaded for each iOS device sold (not including updates). Dediu believes App downloads will overtake song downloads on iTunes by the end of March.
He also notes that Apps reached 10 billion downloads in under half the time it took to get song sales to that level.
To be fair, what he doesn’t note is that songs cost money, while a huge chunk of available Apps are free. Also when it comes to song sales, Apple is competing with other online retailers, CD sales and piracy. Apps you can only get in one place.
Dediu makes three conclusions:
- Apps are a new medium
- Apps help lock users in
- Apps consumption will soon overtake PC software sales.
Now of course, Apple is attempting to emulate App Store success with the Mac App Store, which has already (as CNN notes this morning) created a ‘new gold rush’ for developers.
“The app stores have made the software business more of a meritocracy than it’s ever been, which really favors geeks like us,” Evernote CEO Phil Libin said. “Before, you used to make a great product, but no one would ever get it or use it or be able to buy it.”
