Following the Apple event this week, Flurry from Yahoo released new data points on mobile trends that tie to several of the morning’s big announcements:
Gaming Apps (Super Mario and Pokémon Go for Apple devices):
Games were the only app category to see a decrease in growth 2015 (-1%, compared to the overall growth across all categories at 58%)
This isn't to say that games are less popular, but growth in the category is largely driven by big gaming hits (ie. Pokémon). Last year was devoid of any big hits, so Apple's bet on games in this announcement could bode well for growth in the category in 2016.
Apple Watch Updates:
In our recent app retention study, we saw the impact of wearables on the success of health and fitness apps.
For the first time ever, we found that health and fitness apps in both the iOS and Android store fall within or very close to Quadrant I of our App Retention Matrix linked above, which signifies apps that have high retention and high loyalty. After hundreds of years of diet fads, perhaps the app industry has created a viable healthy living solution.
iPhone 7 Camera Advancements:
Flurry saw a -5% growth in photography apps in 2015.
Similar to gaming apps, the photography category experienced a near-stagnant year in 2015, but the promise of an uptick in the next year is optimistic; advancements to the iPhone 7’s camera could help photo app developers build more compelling photography apps/app experiences.