Damien Mulley, one of the most popular and prolific bloggers on the island of Ireland recently posted a survey about the iPhone for Irish users. Here’s the results.
And some select slices…
Irish iPhone users are highly loyal super-consumers who are immensely happy with their phone and 72% would recommend it to their friends. The vast majority have said their next phone will also be an iPhone despite battery life being an issue for 56% of users.
Just after the launch of the iPhone (but before the device became available) many mobile operators (and executives from Palm, RIM, Microsoft) scoffed at the possibility that Apple could waltz in and create something from nothing but it seems they have succeeded.
The iPhone may have its detractors (and it certainly has a list of faults) but it creates customer loyalty probably in excess of that of the Mac. I’ve certainly found myself able to leave the Mac at home and ‘survive’ just on iPhone for an entire day (yes, it leaves a backlog of things that I need to do but that’s not the essential stuff).
The iPhone proves that consumers will pay for music, applications and games on a phone and the amount Irish iPhone users are spending shows that future revenue streams for phone manufacturers and telcos will come in after the initial purchase of a device.
Apple have outdone themselves and, to be honest, shocked the mobile world by producing a success. Apple have more than 10 000 apps on the App Store currently and have reported over 300 million downloads (in less than six months). The size of the Apple App Store market is estimated to be worth $1 billion (which will allow Apple to pocket $300 million).
The ability to impulse-buy applications and music makes the App Store an instant hit. Issues remain on the policies from Apple regarding applications permitted on the store (which seems more and more arbitrary as time goes on) and on the different rules for different people on which APIs are permitted to be used.
I was recently told by InterTradeIreland that there may be a niche in the market for iPhone applications but they were concerns about whether there was a market in the niche. I think this information helps put those concerns to bed.
How many applications downloaded:
Average 26
300+ for some
Minimum 3
While it’s easy to fill up on Free applications, it’s also possible to spend hundreds of dollars easily when you consider how cheap a lot of applications are. With more than 16 million iPhones out there, a good hit will guarantee revenue and there are folk in the UK and Ireland making thousands per month from their App Store sales. Not something they may be able to retire on, but still considerable and also a market that didn’t exist six months ago.