Mobile App Downloads Dip in August While Marketing Costs Spike, Find Fiksu Indexes

BOSTON, Sept. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiksu, Inc. (www.fiksu.com), the industry's first mobile app user acquisition platform spanning the entire mobile ecosystem, today reported that anticipation for the iPhone 5 impacted the Fiksu Indexes for August 2011, causing a 28.3 percent jump in mobile app marketing costs.

The Fiksu Indexes, which measure monthly fluctuations in competition for rank in the app stores, and the cost to acquire loyal users(1), help mobile app marketers benchmark their performance against industry averages.

The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index increased by 34 cents from $1.20 in July to $1.54 in August. Fiksu's research also recorded a 30 percent decline in organic iPhone app downloads during August, a key factor driving the increase in costs to acquire loyal app users. The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the Top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) decreased by almost five percent from 4.25 million downloads in July to 4.06 million in August.

"The root of the changes in this month's Indexes can likely be explained by eagerness for the new iPhone 5," said Micah Adler, CEO, Fiksu. "Our data shows that fewer apps were downloaded and subsequently used in August, suggesting that existing iPhone users are sitting tight and waiting for the new device.  This caused the overall volume of downloads to decline and disproportionately impacted app marketing costs."

For Fiksu's full analysis, visit http://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes#analysis.

The Fiksu Indexes have now been tracking mobile app marketing for six months, March through August 2011. During this timeframe, the Indexes captured the impact of Apple's ban on incentivized downloads, especially visible during May, and recorded a steady increase in the cost of marketing to loyal app users.

"The app stores are constantly moving targets which present mobile app marketers with an ever-changing set of competitive pressures and budgetary decisions," said Josh Martin, director of apps research, Strategy Analytics, Inc. "The Fiksu Indexes provide marketers with a macroview of this competitive landscape accounting for major market events such as the banning of incentivized downloads and anticipation of iPhone 5 – valuable insight in an increasingly fractured market."

Data for the Fiksu Indexes was sourced from 3.7 billion mobile app actions – such as app launches, registrations and in-app purchases – recorded by apps marketed via the Fiksu for Mobile Apps user acquisition platform.

About Fiksu

Fiksu, Inc. is a new marketing technology company. Fiksu® for Mobile Apps is the company's first solution designed to help mobile app brands on iOS and Android platforms achieve their business goals faster and more cost-effectively. Based in Boston, Mass., Fiksu – which means 'smart' in Finnish – is venture-backed by Charles River Ventures. The company was born from Fluent Mobile, developer of the Fluent News™ app. More at www.fiksu.com and on the Fiksu blog.

1. A loyal user is defined as someone who opens an app three or more times.

SOURCE Fiksu, Inc.