iPhone 5 Hype Causes Fewer App Downloads in August, Says Fiksu

Fiksu, Inc. has issued a report saying that their indexes for August 2011 have seen a 28.3 percent jump in mobile app marketing costs, coupled with fewer downloads. The reason, according to the firm: anticipation for the iPhone 5.

Fiksu describes itself as the industry's first mobile app user acquisition platform spanning the entire mobile ecosystem.

Their Fiksu Indexes track and measure monthly fluctuations in competition for rank in the app stores.

They also look at the cost to acquire loyal users, as in someone who opens an app three or more times. They do this to help mobile app marketers benchmark their performance against industry averages.

Now, according to their latest findings, the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index increased by 34 cents from $1.20 in July to $1.54 in August.

‘Organic’ iPhone app downloads during August recorded a 30 percent decline, something that Fiksu describes as “a key factor driving the increase in costs to acquire loyal app users.”

They also have a Competitive Index for Apple’s App Store. This measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the Top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps.

According to the firm, this is where they registered a decrease by almost five percent from 4.25 million downloads in July to 4.06 million in August. Micah Adler, Fiksu CEO, explains why:

"The root of the changes in this month's Indexes can likely be explained by eagerness for the new iPhone 5," said Adler. "Our data shows that fewer apps were downloaded and subsequently used in August, suggesting that existing iPhone users are sitting tight and waiting for the new device. This caused the overall volume of downloads to decline and disproportionately impacted app marketing costs."

Josh Martin, director of apps research at Strategy Analytics, Inc., is also quoted in the Fiksu report, saying: "The app stores are constantly moving targets which present mobile app marketers with an ever-changing set of competitive pressures and budgetary decisions."

"The Fiksu Indexes provide marketers with a macroview of this competitive landscape accounting for major market events such as the banning of incentivized downloads and anticipation of iPhone 5 – valuable insight in an increasingly fractured market," said Martin.

For Fiksu's full analysis, visit the firm’s web site here.