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Ever since the early days of Android its users have been stereotyped as folks who aren’t too keen on paying for their software. The myth has been kept afloat by a plethora of ad-supported titles available via the official Google Play Store (once the Android Market) and a handful of developer horror stories lauding the much more profitable nature of iOS deployment. We can’t forget accusations of Android users turning to pirated software to avoid shelling out any dough. So the picture being painted here shows Android users as quite the penny pinchers it would seem.
How about a little evidence that flies in the face of everything above? Humble Bundle, the software distribution model that allows users to choose how much they would like to pay for a collection of independently developed games, recently released their second Android pack and started collecting data on how much users of the OS were willing to pay. The results might surprise you. At an average payment of $7.43, Android users rank as more generous than buyers on Windows ($5.73) and Mac ($7.02). Android’s Linux counterpart saw its users ponying up an average of $9.92, which just goes to show how much users of open software want to support the indie developers that are creating great content for their platforms.
There is still time to go before the Humble Bundle wraps up, and statistics could change for better or worse over the next six days. If you haven’t checked out the Humble Bundle for Android #2, there’s no better time than now. Just don’t go making the rest of us look cheap if you decide to make a purchase.
[via HumbleBundle]
Considering there are 5 games and 2 charities, that’s still being a cheapskate – only slightly over $1 to each. The average donation level should really be at least $2 per.
What kind of fuzzy math is this? I can play along. Maybe the average donation level should really be $3.50.
What’s fuzzy about it? Average donation of just over $7, 7 targets to split the donation up among: that is just over $1 to each. I view that as the average purchaser still being a cheapskate.
What’s fuzzy about it is you just set some arbitrary amount to what you consider being a cheapskate. I think you know exactly the point the article was trying to make and decided to just be difficult.
For the record, of course I think people should donate more to charities but that’s a different topic.
Yet, we’re still less “cheap” than the other purchasers – Mac/Windows.
I really don’t understand how developers who don’t offer non-ad supported versions of their software can claim that Android users “only” buy ad-supported versions. Newsflash: If I can’t buy a non-ad supported version, I will buy that exactly zero times!
Most of the apps I can think of (osmosis, draw something) where there is an ad or free version and a paid version have either something they give you more for the paid version (draw something) or you “unlock” most of the content in it (osmosis, world of goo).
Angry birds = ad crap only (unless you go to the horrid amazon market).
Ok – apparently the lastest Angry Birds gives a choice. Thank god. I’d much rather pay a dollar or three than have ads. See horrible apps I uninstalled like words with friends that are the worst implementation ever of ads. Remove the ads and WWF is still horrid (bad iOS port), but less so.
Or in the case of Words with Friends by the time they actually offered a ad-free version I was already on to the next.. At one time it may have been true that we Android users didn’t want to pay for Apps but the fact is we didn’t have to.. We had a great choice of free apps to do the job and gaming on Android has become popular only in the last year or so.
You guys seems to have forgotten, that in the beginning of android you couldn’t buy app unless you lived in America, so if a developer wanted to earn money from their app at an other place than America, they needed to make a free version with adds. Or to say it in an other way, because google really suck at releasing it service worldwide, they end up screwing the eco-system of the service/project, in this case “Play store” and at the moment play music and play video and play ebooks and voice and…
More than Mac users who are also the iOS users of the world.
Plus software on computers is always more expensive than on mobile devices. Most PC games cost a more than their mobile counterparts.
Bought both Humble bundles and paid 12$ for each. Roughly 2$ per App is really not expensive.
you really needed a study to figure this out?
Where do you think the “android users are not profitable” rumors started from?
hint: their competition trying to drive people away from android.
see: Microsoft, Apple and Oracle acting in collusion (and lawsuits going through the US and EU)
A little too early for the article. Now all iSheeps will go and buy Android pack for 1 penny, and screw up the whole stats.
Damn it Maureen, someone hacked your computer again! Stop pirating android apps you cheapskate!
I know this is off topic, but has anyone tried Ceramic Destroyer? …its horribly addictive!
Heh, “Ponying up.” Go @HumbleBrony:twitter !
I paid 1p for it and glad I did, the games were shite and un-installed almost straight away.