Think Users Don't Pay for Apps Think Again, Over 40 percent Of SmartPhone Owners Have Paid Apps Report Finds

It’s generally accepted in the mobile app industry that consumers are now conditioned to downloading apps for free, there still are a number of smartphone users that have downloaded a paid app.

A recent study by Branchfire, makers of the Folia and iAnnotate apps, was conducted in July on consumer attitudes towards the cost of apps. Respondents included over 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18 plus. It found that, while some smartphone and tablet owners are downloading 30 or more apps for their devices, 43 percent actually paid for an app. 

- Smartphone/Tablet Owners Love Free: While 62 percent of smartphone/tablets owners have downloaded ten or more apps for their devices, just 43 percent of those users have paid for [a one-time app purchase]. 

- Frequent Buyers: 38 percent of smartphone/tablets owners have downloaded 20 or more apps to their current device and 17 percent of smartphone/tablets owners are frequent buyers who have downloaded more than 30 apps onto their current smartphones and/or tablets. 

- $4.99 is the Price Wall for One-time App Purchases:  Just 43 percent of smartphone/tablets owners paid for a one-time purchase of an app. Of those consumers, 84% have paid $9.99 or less for a one-time app; 63 percent say the most they have paid for one-time app is $4.99 or less; 31 percent say the most they have paid for one-time app is $1.99 or less.

- 21% Of Smartphone/Tablet Owners Pay to Stream Movies/TV:  37 percent of smartphone/tablet owners subscribe to monthly subscription-based apps.  Of those who subscribe to monthly subscription-based apps, 57 percent pay for a monthly subscription app to stream TV/movies; 30 percent pay monthly for games and 27 percent pay monthly to stream music. 

- Small Growth for Subscriptions Overall:  49 percent of consumers who own a smartphone or tablet said they’d be willing to pay for a monthly subscription app.  With 37 percent of smartphone/tablet owners already subscribing to monthly subscription-based apps, this points to a small rate (just 12 percent) of growth to penetrate.

- $10 a Month is Sweet Spot for Subscribers: 31 percent of smartphone/tablet owners said they’d be willing to pay less than $10 a month for a subscription app, with 8 percent saying that less than $3 was their price point.  Just 2% of smartphone/tablet owners said they would pay $25 or more for a monthly subscription app. 

- A Large Amount of Consumers Still Use Standard Mobile Phones: 33 percent of consumers still use a standard phone. 

This survey was conducted online within the United States between July 8-10, 2014 among 2,042 adults (aged 18 and over), of which 1,298 own a tablet or smartphone, by Harris Poll on behalf of Branchfire via its Quick Query omnibus product. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.