Pricing in the App Store on Black Friday

Black Friday even overtook app stores: prices in the Apple App Store were reduced by 1,415 apps.

But it is quite difficult to assess how intensively prices have been declining, because there is no “Sales” category in the App Store. But after wandering around the store, you could see how much the number of “special” promotions had changed by the end of the week. Perhaps it was done to get more attention, downloads, improve the rating. Developers constantly use price changes when promoting their applications, but on Black Friday the number of such offers reaches a peak.

Let’s take a closer look at what was happening in the App Store this “black” weekend.

• More than 1,415 apps have become cheaper or even sold for free
• As a result, the total cost reduction was $5425
• Approximately 38% of these applications were sold absolutely for free, the rest reduced their cost, but remained paid
• The number of applications at a reduced price is about twice the average
• Prior to this, a similar surge in special offers was on November 11, when the number of such applications was even slightly higher (1,408), but as a result, the total cost reduction was less ($3,900).

Many developers often play with the cost of applications, creating only a kind of active promotion. Such applications are called “yoyo”. If you also count them, the figures will increase by 20-15% compared to those shown in the table.