December was an extraordinary month for apps. We saw a significant increase in holiday app search traffic; there was a 30% increase in search volume on Christmas Day and a 20% increase between Christmas Day and New Years Day. “Christmas” was the search term of the month, with an additional query volume increase of 300% immediately before Christmas Day. This month’s search analytics report shows that there were also 4.2 million IOS and 3.7 million Android devices activated on Christmas Day.
- App monetization on iOS significantly increased again this month. Paid app downloads reached 30% for the first time ever. The $0.99 price point increased from 15.9% to 17.8% of all apps. While paid app downloads on Android showed no change.
- Congratulations to Chomp’s top 55, the most popular iOS and Android apps of the month. The top five Android apps were Angry Birds Rio, eBay, Google+, Google Sky Map and Zedge Ringtones. “Free” was again the top search term across all countries sampled on Android, and GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+ stormed to the top of the international charts.
- App search abroad showed more diversity on iOS. Christmas was celebrated around the world as a top search term on iOS devices in the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. Temple Run made its debut as a top app. The top iOS apps for December were WhatsApp Messenger, JunoWallet GiftCards, Pandora, Adobe Photoshop Express and Pho.to Lab.
We hope you all had a successful and happy holiday season. Check out the New Year’s resolution apps below to help you stay on track with your goals this year. We look forward to bringing you even better app search in 2012. Look for our next report in early February.
Ben Keighran
CEO & Co-Founder
