Studies reveal smartphone apps are downloaded often and used infrequently

Physorg is reporting that a study by Pinch Media shows that only one percent of iPhone applications downloaded by users have a long life term of use and that less than 5 percent of users who download an application actively use it a month after downloading it. Only 30 percent of users who purchased an app use it the following day. While paid applications have a higher rate of use than free apps, the drop off is still substantial. The study also said that games are used for a longer time period than other applications.

A survey by ABI Research of 235 smartphone users who installed applications on their smartphone handsets in November 2008 reveals that 16.5 percent of users spent between $100 and $499 on applications. Given the low cost of paid applications for smartphones, this number is significant. It is important to note that users who did not download applications were not included in the sample.