Reviewing Apple’s AppStore Downloads, Rankings and Uploads for iPhone

WHITEPAPER
———————
Reviewing Apple’s AppStore Downloads,
Rankings and Uploads for iPhone

master-studios.net

App & Software Development, Consulting and Research
Authors: Erhard Dinhobl and Matthias Reisinger

Feb. 2013

Contents
1 Purpose 2

2 About master-studios.net 2

3 Soft facts about the AppStore 2

4 Categories and app distribution 3

5 Important facts on Apple’s AppStore algorithm 4

6 Ranking and downloads for the markets 4
6.1 Interpretation of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2 Category: Overall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.3 Category: Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.4 Category: Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.5 Category: Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.6 Category: Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.7 Category: Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.8 Category: Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.9 Category: Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.10 Category: Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.11 Category: Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.12 Category: Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.13 Category: Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.14 Category: Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.15 Category: News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.16 Category: Healthcare and Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.17 Category: Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.18 Category: Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.19 Category: Medical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.20 Category: Social Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.21 Category: Food and Drink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.22 Category: Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.23 Category: Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.24 Category: Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

7 Bringing the app faster to the market 16

1

1 Purpose
Downloads of apps and their ranking in the app stores are kept as a secret. So
a review of those circumstances is needed. We, from master-studios.net, are
now going to focus on those download numbers (overall and all app store cate-
gories) with an analytically background. This document focuses on the Apple
AppStore for iPhones of the US, China, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The information in this document is based on research on it on the AppStore,
scientific information, many articles from magazines and the net and personal
experience. The underlying values have been extrapolated from known values
based on a statistical model. This model is influenced by market growth, known
download numbers, market share of the different categories in the app store, the
size of different markets of the countries and so on. A document for app store
information on the iPad and on the Google Play App Store will follow. For
further information and critics please contact us via office@master-studios.net.

2 About master-studios.net
master-studios.net is an app & software development, consulting and research
company based in Austria, Vienna. We have successfully developed apps &
software projects for austrian companies. For information please contact us at:
office@master-studios.net or visit our website at master-studios.net. You can
also like us on facebook or follow us on twitter.

3 Soft facts about the AppStore
Everything in the current chapter focuses on the Apple AppStore for iPhone.
When looking at the rank of an app in the app store, the following criterias are
important:

• underlying country of the app store account which is logged in
• the device (iPhone / iPad / iPod)
• the apps which are installed on the device (NOT the app store account)
from where the app store is opened

• the category which is currently being viewed by the user

In the app store there are many lists which are being displayed to the user
but the important ones are only in the ”Top-Charts” tab:

2

All other lists are derived from the top charts by Apple employees [2] or
algorithms from the app store where the download counts are being considered.
Due to the amount of countries where app store’s are available we have
chosen 5 markets we are focusing on. Those are the 2 biggest markets (based
on the chart from [1] - pay attention on the third placed country and its CAGR
from this article) and German market which includes 3 countries. The complete
list:

• China (biggest market)
• US (2nd)
• Germany

• Austria
• Switzerland

4 Categories and app distribution
The following table shows all 23 categories (English and German titles). It
also shows the number of apps in each category of the US app store and their
count and percentage. The numbers are taken from the US store but can also

3

be applied (+/-1,5% for further information see the references) to the German,
Chinese and Austrian store - they seem to have the same distribution. For com-
parison see [3] for US, [4] and [11] for Germany and [5] for China (sorted by
percentage descending):

Spiele Games 133,623 (16.80%)
Bildung Education 84,874 (10.67%)
Unterhaltung Entertainment 72,526 (9.12%)
Lifestyle Lifestyle 64,491 (8.11%)
B¨cher
u Books 54,755 (6.88%)
Wirtschaft Business 50,382 (6.33%)
Dienstprogramme Utilities 48,068 (6.04%)
Reisen Travel 40,585 (5.10%)
Musik Music 29,771 (3.74%)
Referenz Reference 25,267 (3.18%)
Sport Sports 23,165 (2.91%)
Produktivit¨t
a Productivity 22,587 (2.84%)
Nachrichten News 21,696 (2.73%)
Gesundheit und Fitness Healthcare and Fitness 21,005 (2.64%)
Foto und Video Photography 20,243 (2.54%)
Finanzen Finance 18,456 (2.32%)
Medizin Medical 16,975 (2.13%)
Soziale Netze Social Networking 15,958 (2.01%)
Essen und Trinken Food and Drink 12,383 (1.56%)
Navigation Navigation 11,985 (1.51%)
Wetter Weather 3,406 (0.43%)
Kataloge Catalogs 3,359 (0.42%)
Zeitungskiosk Newsstand -

5 Important facts on Apple’s AppStore algo-
rithm
When uploading an app to the app store it is best to put the app in the category
where it ﬁts best [6]. It does not help the app if it is put into a category only
because of there are more views or what ever. Important for the ranking is:
downloads, ratings and time the app is in the app store. Also important are the
app keywords and the names (also on Google Play Store) [6]. When users search
for an app title, the app is being listed, when they are searching for a keyword
it is also being listed. It is also important to know that mix of keywords and
titles in the search text is currently allowed. There was some time when apple
disabled this search possibilities but it is available again [10].

6 Ranking and downloads for the markets
Due to the fact, that the market grows, there is no long living promise to hold
the following numbers. But we can orientate on available numbers and maybe
prepare a statistical model. In the following the ranks of each category are
taken and a download volume is given. Based on this numbers a marketeer can

4

define a value for a campaign of an app. Every category discussion explains the
download volume for the 2 main app types:

• top-paid
• top-free

• (top-grossing)

...and the 5 main markets which are mentioned above. The given download
volume number is given as per-day. It should be mentioned that the category
”top-grossing” is not discussed in this work. The reason for that is very simple:
the ranking is not dependent on downloads but on selling products via the app.
So download numbers are not necessary for this kind of apps.

6.1 Interpretation of Data
The given download numbers in the tables below are values without warranty.
Further the number of downloads have a big variation. We have observed a
variation of up to 50% of the calculated download value. This variation is low
on the first rank but increases the lower the rank. So if the download number for
example indicates 100 downloads per day for a specific rank, the real downloads
may vary from 50 to 150. The given numbers offer a ”good choice”.

6.2 Category: Overall

Table 1: top-paid apps with their download volume for the specific rank in the
markets in the specific category
US China Germany Austria Switzerland
Rank 1 53187 87412 7351 758 718
Rank 2 27646 45436 3821 394 373
Rank 3 18854 30986 2606 269 255
Rank 4 14370 23617 1986 205 194
Rank 5 11641 19131 1609 166 157

Table 2: top-free apps with their download volume for the specific rank in the
Rank 1 1436053 2360122 198488 20464 19392
Rank 2 1051252 1727711 145301 14981 14196
Rank 3 875923 1439561 121068 12482 11828
Rank 4 769562 1264758 106367 10966 10392
Rank 5 696040 1143926 96205 9919 9399

5

6.3 Category: Games

Rank 1 8934 14684 2245 231 219
Rank 2 4658 7655 1170 121 114
Rank 3 3182 5229 800 82 78
Rank 4 2428 3991 610 63 60
Rank 5 1969 3236 495 51 48

Rank 1 241257 396501 33346 3438 3258
Rank 2 176611 290256 24411 2517 2385
Rank 3 147155 241847 20339 2097 1987
Rank 4 129287 212480 17870 1842 1746
Rank 5 116935 192180 16162 1666 1579

6.4 Category: Education

Rank 1 5675 9327 784 81 77
Rank 2 2950 4848 408 42 40
Rank 3 2012 3306 278 29 27
Rank 4 1533 2520 212 22 21
Rank 5 1242 2041 172 18 17

Rank 1 153227 251825 21179 2184 2069
Rank 2 112169 184347 15504 1598 1515
Rank 3 93461 153601 12918 1332 1262
Rank 4 82112 134950 11349 1170 1109
Rank 5 74267 122057 10265 1058 1003

6

6.5 Category: Entertainment

Rank 1 4851 7972 670 69 66
Rank 2 2521 4144 348 36 34
Rank 3 1719 2826 238 25 23
Rank 4 1311 2154 181 19 18
Rank 5 1062 1745 147 15 14

Rank 1 130968 215243 18102 1866 1769
Rank 2 95874 157567 13251 1366 1295
Rank 3 79884 131288 11041 1138 1079
Rank 4 70184 115346 9701 1000 948
Rank 5 63479 104326 8774 905 857

6.6 Category: Lifestyle

Rank 1 4313 7089 596 61 58
Rank 2 2242 3685 310 32 30
Rank 3 1529 2513 211 22 21
Rank 4 1165 1915 161 17 16
Rank 5 944 1552 130 13 13

Rank 1 116464 191406 16097 1660 1573
Rank 2 85257 140117 11784 1215 1151
Rank 3 71037 116748 9819 1012 959
Rank 4 62411 102572 8626 889 843
Rank 5 56449 92772 7802 804 762

7

6.7 Category: Books

Rank 1 3659 6014 506 52 49
Rank 2 1902 3126 263 27 26
Rank 3 1297 2132 179 18 18
Rank 4 989 1625 137 14 13
Rank 5 801 1316 111 11 11

Rank 1 98800 162376 13656 1408 1334
Rank 2 72326 118867 9997 1031 977
Rank 3 60264 99042 8329 859 814
Rank 4 52946 87015 7318 754 715
Rank 5 47888 78702 6619 682 647

6.8 Category: Business

Rank 1 3367 5533 465 48 45
Rank 2 1750 2876 242 25 24
Rank 3 1193 1961 165 17 16
Rank 4 910 1495 126 13 12
Rank 5 737 1211 102 11 10

Rank 1 90902 149396 12564 1295 1228
Rank 2 66544 109364 9198 948 899
Rank 3 55446 91124 7664 790 749
Rank 4 48713 80059 6733 694 658
Rank 5 44059 72411 6090 628 595

8

6.9 Category: Utilities

Rank 1 3213 5280 444 46 43
Rank 2 1670 2744 231 24 23
Rank 3 1139 1872 157 16 15
Rank 4 868 1426 120 12 12
Rank 5 703 1156 97 10 9

Rank 1 86738 142551 11989 1236 1171
Rank 2 63496 104354 8776 905 857
Rank 3 52906 86949 7312 754 714
Rank 4 46482 76391 6425 662 628
Rank 5 42041 69093 5811 599 568

6.10 Category: Travel

Rank 1 2713 4458 375 39 37
Rank 2 1410 2317 195 20 19
Rank 3 962 1580 133 14 13
Rank 4 733 1204 101 10 10
Rank 5 594 976 82 8 8

Rank 1 73239 120366 10123 1044 989
Rank 2 53614 88113 7410 764 724
Rank 3 44672 73418 6174 637 603
Rank 4 39248 64503 5425 559 530
Rank 5 35498 58340 4906 506 479

9

6.11 Category: Music

Rank 1 1989 3269 275 28 27
Rank 2 1034 1699 143 15 14
Rank 3 705 1159 97 10 10
Rank 4 537 883 74 8 7
Rank 5 435 716 60 6 6

Rank 1 53708 88269 7423 765 725
Rank 2 39317 64616 5434 560 531
Rank 3 32760 53840 4528 467 442
Rank 4 28782 47302 3978 410 389
Rank 5 26032 42783 3598 371 352

6.12 Category: Reference

Rank 1 1691 2780 234 24 23
Rank 2 879 1445 122 13 12
Rank 3 600 985 83 9 8
Rank 4 457 751 63 7 6
Rank 5 370 608 51 5 5

Rank 1 45667 75052 6312 651 617
Rank 2 33430 54941 4621 476 451
Rank 3 27854 45778 3850 397 376
Rank 4 24472 40219 3382 349 330
Rank 5 22134 36377 3059 315 299

10

6.13 Category: Sports

Rank 1 1548 2544 214 22 21
Rank 2 805 1322 111 11 11
Rank 3 549 902 76 8 7
Rank 4 418 687 58 6 6
Rank 5 339 557 47 5 5

Rank 1 41789 68680 5776 596 564
Rank 2 30591 50276 4228 436 413
Rank 3 25489 41891 3523 363 344
Rank 4 22394 36804 3095 319 302
Rank 5 20255 33288 2800 289 274

6.14 Category: Productivity

Rank 1 1511 2483 209 22 20
Rank 2 785 1290 109 11 11
Rank 3 535 880 74 8 7
Rank 4 408 671 56 6 6
Rank 5 331 543 46 5 4

Rank 1 40784 67028 5637 581 551
Rank 2 29856 49067 4127 425 403
Rank 3 24876 40884 3438 354 336
Rank 4 21856 35919 3021 311 295
Rank 5 19768 32488 2732 282 267

11

6.15 Category: News

Rank 1 1452 2386 201 21 20
Rank 2 755 1240 104 11 10
Rank 3 515 846 71 7 7
Rank 4 392 645 54 6 5
Rank 5 318 522 44 5 4

Rank 1 39204 64431 5419 559 529
Rank 2 28699 47167 3967 409 388
Rank 3 23913 39300 3305 341 323
Rank 4 21009 34528 2904 299 284
Rank 5 19002 31229 2626 271 257

6.16 Category: Healthcare and Fitness

Rank 1 1404 2308 194 20 19
Rank 2 730 1200 101 10 10
Rank 3 498 818 69 7 7
Rank 4 379 623 52 5 5
Rank 5 307 505 42 4 4

Rank 1 37912 62307 5240 540 512
Rank 2 27753 45612 3836 395 375
Rank 3 23124 38004 3196 330 312
Rank 4 20316 33390 2808 290 274
Rank 5 18375 30200 2540 262 248

12

6.17 Category: Photography

Rank 1 1351 2220 187 19 18
Rank 2 702 1154 97 10 9
Rank 3 479 787 66 7 6
Rank 4 365 600 50 5 5
Rank 5 296 486 41 4 4

Rank 1 36476 59947 5042 520 493
Rank 2 26702 43884 3691 381 361
Rank 3 22248 36565 3075 317 300
Rank 4 19547 32125 2702 279 264
Rank 5 17679 29056 2444 252 239

6.18 Category: Finance

Rank 1 1234 2028 171 18 17
Rank 2 641 1054 89 9 9
Rank 3 437 719 60 6 6
Rank 4 333 548 46 5 5
Rank 5 270 444 37 4 4

Rank 1 33316 54755 4605 475 450
Rank 2 24389 40083 3371 348 329
Rank 3 20321 33398 2809 290 274
Rank 4 17854 29342 2468 254 241
Rank 5 16148 26539 2232 230 218

13

6.19 Category: Medical

Rank 1 1133 1862 157 16 15
Rank 2 589 968 81 8 8
Rank 3 402 660 56 6 5
Rank 4 306 503 42 4 4
Rank 5 248 407 34 4 3

Rank 1 30588 50271 4228 436 413
Rank 2 22392 36800 3095 319 302
Rank 3 18657 30663 2579 266 252
Rank 4 16392 26939 2266 234 221
Rank 5 14826 24366 2049 211 200

6.20 Category: Social Networking

Rank 1 1069 1757 148 15 14
Rank 2 556 913 77 8 8
Rank 3 379 623 52 5 5
Rank 4 289 475 40 4 4
Rank 5 234 385 32 3 3

Rank 1 28865 47439 3990 411 390
Rank 2 21130 34727 2921 301 285
Rank 3 17606 28935 2433 251 238
Rank 4 15468 25422 2138 220 209
Rank 5 13990 22993 1934 199 189

14

6.21 Category: Food and Drink

Rank 1 830 1364 115 12 11
Rank 2 431 709 60 6 6
Rank 3 294 483 41 4 4
Rank 4 224 368 31 3 3
Rank 5 182 298 25 3 2

Rank 1 22402 36818 3096 319 303
Rank 2 16400 26952 2267 234 221
Rank 3 13664 22457 1889 195 185
Rank 4 12005 19730 1659 171 162
Rank 5 10858 17845 1501 155 147

6.22 Category: Navigation

Rank 1 803 1320 111 11 11
Rank 2 417 686 58 6 6
Rank 3 285 468 39 4 4
Rank 4 217 357 30 3 3
Rank 5 176 289 24 3 2

Rank 1 21684 35638 2997 309 293
Rank 2 15874 26088 2194 226 214
Rank 3 13226 21737 1828 188 179
Rank 4 11620 19098 1606 166 157
Rank 5 10510 17273 1453 150 142

15

6.23 Category: Weather

Rank 1 229 376 32 3 3
Rank 2 119 195 16 2 2
Rank 3 81 133 11 1 1
Rank 4 62 102 9 1 1
Rank 5 50 82 7 1 1

Rank 1 6175 10149 853 88 83
Rank 2 4520 7429 625 64 61
Rank 3 3766 6190 521 54 51
Rank 4 3309 5438 457 47 45
Rank 5 2993 4919 414 43 40

6.24 Category: Catalogs

Rank 1 223 367 31 3 3
Rank 2 116 191 16 2 2
Rank 3 79 130 11 1 1
Rank 4 60 99 8 1 1
Rank 5 49 80 7 1 1

Rank 1 6031 9913 834 86 81
Rank 2 4415 7256 610 63 60
Rank 3 3679 6046 508 52 50
Rank 4 3232 5312 447 46 44
Rank 5 2923 4804 404 42 39

7 Bringing the app faster to the market
Imagine your app is online and you are starting a marketing campaign. Suddenly
you registere a bug in your app and really want to ﬁx it. You prepare the app

16

and upload it to the app store. But now maybe you have to wait up to 2 weeks or
what ever. There is a way of forcing such an upload. It is called an ”Expedited
Review”. Just visit [9] and submit the form to Apple. For more experience read
[2]

17

References
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/08/30/
china-now-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-market/, Aug 2012
[2] http://blog.anylistapp.com/2012/08/app-store/, Aug 2012

[3] http://148apps.biz/app-store-metrics/?mpage=catcount, Feb 2013
[4] http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/166976/
umfrage/beliebteste-kategorien-im-app-store/, Jan 2013
[5] http://sellapptochina.com/december-report-of-2012-on-the-new-released-apps-in-china-a
Oct 2012
[6] http://www.betsmartmedia.com/how-we-got-into-the-app-store-top-list,
Feb 2012
[7] http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/07/app-store-search-algorithm-changes-again.
html, Jul 2012
[8] http://www.entrelife.com/2012/06/apple-changed-search-algorithm-for-app.
html, Jun 2012
[9] https://developer.apple.com/appstore/contact/appreviewteam/
index.html

[10] http://creativealgorithms.com/blog/content/
appstore-search-ranking-algorithms, Jun 2012
[11] http://www.statista.com/statistics/166976/
popular-categories-in-the-app-store/, Jan 2013

18

Reviewing Apple’s AppStore Downloads, Rankings and Uploads for iPhone

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