There’s a lot to be said for free apps from a users prospective, who doesn’t like getting something for nothing! We’ve all done it, looked for that perfect app, become elated when we’ve found it and then seen the price and thought better of it. The thing is an app store is just that, a ‘store’ and whilst you might be put off by the price of some items, you know you’ll never get anything similar for free.

Part of the problem is that unlike (most) things in traditional stores you can’t try before you buy and you don’t have that safety net of being able to return it. There is a wide spread mistrust of apps, and mobiles in general, which means that users are reluctant even to spend 69p on an app that they’re not sure they’ll like…strange because if you spot a new brand of biscuits you’ll probably pay more to try them and you still won’t know if you like them until money has exchanged hands!

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The challenge is one of both trust and of helping users to see the benefit in paying for apps. Whilst Apple apps are fairly stringently moderated and tested, Android apps are less so, once a user has one bad experience of an app not doing what it says on the tin they can be put off for life. Part of the issue here is that many apps aren’t user tested before going live, like websites are. It may be an expensive process, but it can ensure your app is ready to go with as few hiccups as possible.

At the end of the day an app is created to make money. For retailers it’s a simple equation, app space on a customers smartphone makes them more likely to browse and purchase from you, but for other businesses it’s not that simple. Two models currently being widely explored are ‘freemium’ apps and those using large amounts of advertising…

Freemium apps are those which are scaled down versions of a premium app. It is a common feature in games and productivity apps where some functionality is unavailable until the premium app is purchased. It’s a bit like a ‘try before you buy’ scheme. Whilst this is becoming a common route to market, it does have it’s issues, the main one being that the majority of users – those who have downloaded the free app – are using an inferior service and with limited functionality still may not see the value in purchasing the app in its entirety.

Advertising has also become a popular way for app developers to earn revenue from their apps. According to statistics released from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, mobile advertising spend rose to $3.4 billion in 2012, up 111% from 2011’s record levels, and mobile advertising now accounts for 9% of all digital revenue. However mobile advertising has yet to come into it’s own. Currently the method favoured is to simply scale down web-style display ads, which often fail to attract attention on such a small screen – the ads simply become part of the ‘scenery’ of the app. It’s worse still if the app is functional offline too, as often the ads will not show, giving no opportunity to earn revenue at all.

As a rapidly growing market, apps will continue to be made and downloaded but in order for them to achieve longevity and trust, we must find a way to make them profitable without harming user experience.