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June 04, 2013

The App Buying Habits of Smartphone and Tablet Owners

By Robbie Pleasant, TMCnet Contributor

While there may be an app for pretty much anything, those apps aren’t free. Smartphone owners are well aware of this fact, but tablet users are learning that to be even more the case. According to a survey from Analysys (News - Alert) Mason, tablet owners are even more likely than smartphone owners to spend up to €5 ($6.50) a month on their apps.



This information is published in “The Connected Consumer Survey 2013: Mobile Content and Apps.” It has uncovered that 53 percent of smartphone users have not even bought an app, at least not before the survey was taken in October 2012. On the other hand, over 60 percent of tablet users have bought and installed apps not only on their tablets, but on their smartphones too.

There are a variety of reasons why few smartphone users buy fewer apps than tablet users. It’s often due to the availability of free apps, which are either made for fun, serve as free demos for more complex apps, or make money off of advertising. However, it’s just as often due to smartphone users not wanting to share their credit card information with the app stores, much less apps that provide in-app purchases, or the inability to transfer apps they’ve already purchased from one platform to another.

Tablet owners, on the other hand, tend to have more disposable income than those without, hence their ability to purchase a tablet in the first place. As such, they’re more willing to spend a few extra dollars a month on apps.

Also worth noting is the difference between devices and apps purchased on those. 30 percent of iOS owners have never bought an app, but those who use other operating systems are far less likely to buy any. It was also uncovered that those who have had their devices for less than half a year are more likely to spend money on apps than those who have had theirs for a while; perhaps those who have had theirs for a long time are content with their devices as they are and do not feel the need for more apps.

For the most part, apps tend to work on both smartphones and tablets from the same company, although that is not always the case. As such, tablet owners may also find they can get more mileage out of each app if it’s on multiple devices, but that is merely conjecture on my part. Still, there is an increased demand for apps and connectivity, so being able to provide apps for multiple devices will help spur sales forward.

Whether you have a single smartphone, a tablet, or both, and whether you do not own a single app or you have a tendency to tell developers to shut up and take your money, there’s no denying the wide availability of apps. That has been brought about by demand for them, as well as the potential to make a nice profit off of app sales and advertisement revenue, so as long as people are willing to keep buying them, apps will continue to be developed. Whether the market starts focusing on tablets, smartphones, or a combination of both will be seen soon enough.




Edited by Rich Steeves
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