Like many, we here at ComboApp have just seen Fisku’s Q3 2013 competitive indexes, and we’re delighted to see that across the board - downloads were up, while marketing campaign costs were down during the holiday season just past.

1. Fiksu Reports Downloads Up, CPU Down in Q3
2013
Well, Internet ­ it looks like you took our 2013 Holiday marketing advice to heart!
Like many, we here at ComboApp have just seen Fisku’s Q3 2013 competitive indexes, and
we’re delighted to see that across the board ­ downloads were up, while marketing campaign
costs were down during the holiday season just past.
From Inside Mobile Apps:
“Fiksu’s App Store Competitive Index, which measures the average daily downloads for the top
200 free iPhone apps in the US, saw a 12 percent jump to 6.4 million daily downloads from
November’s figure of 5.7 million downloads. This is a 20 percent increase year­over­year,
triggered by new iPhone owners looking to add apps to their new devices (like the iPhone 5S and
5C).”
Of course sales were up! This year hosted a ton of new tech gadgets which people
(undoubtedly) wanted to install cool apps onto. That is just a no­brainer, the holidays (from
T­Day, thru to New Year’s ­ even extending to Valentine’s Day ­ this coming Friday) is the period
where most people splash out on new tech… and, new apps.
Inside Mobile Apps continues:
“Meanwhile, the Cost per Loyal User Index showed a decrease from November’s figure of $1.79
to $1.75 in December. While this is a five percent increase in costs year­over­year, Fiksu
attributes the month­over­month decrease to the fact that many users download the apps they

2. care about most first, when acquiring a new device, and are then loyal users to those apps.
Fiksu defines loyal users as those who open the same app at least three times.”
Well, this ­ this is news!
As you can see from Fisku’s graph above, CPU reached a record high of $1.90/user in August of
2013. What the drop in CPU shows is that ­slowly­ marketers are starting to understand that it’s
not about quantity of user, it’s about QUALITY of user.
As we’ve pointed out multiple times, multiple places ­ having a ton of users download your app
and then never open it means veritably nothing. Especially in a market which is moving more and
more towards the “freemium” model. A download ­ just a download ­ gets you nothing but a
number, which is useless for your bottom line.
Whereas an engaged “loyal user” (ie: one who opens the app three or more times and makes
in­app purchases or clicks thru advertising) is everything.
It’s good to see this thought catching on.
Continue on as you were, Internet!
Kate Kotler,
writer.