An infographic from AppsFire has revealed some interesting figures regarding applications in the App Store. It turns out that over 330,000 apps were published in the App Store throughout 2012, and free applications make up 66% of the total. Compare this with 2008 when 74% of the ~15,000 apps released were paid. We can likely attribute the free app rise to in-app purchasing and advertising becoming more profitable ways to market your app.
However if you are tempted into the world of app development, AppsFire does have some cautionary advice – it can be incredibly tough to reach users as only 111,540 apps actually got some recognition (rating/review etc), leaving over 600,000 completely unnoticed. And when it comes to reviewing, Apple users tend to be very critical – of all apps looked at, just 3% had a five star rating, with the vast majority getting two or three stars.
49% of all applications are in the other category, 16% in games, 11% education, 9% entertainment, 8% lifestyle and 7% books.
AppsFire also listed the best applications for iOS users based on the app score. Angry Birds and Whatsapp are popular paid applications while Temple Run and Pinterest (one of 2012’s biggest growing social networks) were the top free apps.