More and more Windows Phone developers are adding in-app purchases into their apps and games, with 40% of the top-15 highest grossing developers in the Windows Phone Store supporting the capability. The consumer adoption, however, “varies by market, depending on regional trends, consumer preferences, and other regional differences.” The strongest adoption has been in central Europe, China, France, Middle East and the US.
Unsurprisingly the most popular category for the use of in-app purchases was games, which saw more than twice the adoption of the second biggest category, tools and productivity. But in-app purchases are being used across many other categories like books and reference, health and fitness, education, and kids and family.
Looking at the 20 games and 10 other apps with the highest in-app purchase revenue, it was noted that quality is a defining issue – all have a 4-star rating or higher. Moreover, 90% of these top titles are free, with all revenue generated via in-app purchases. Those that are paid apps are from well-known developers.
Finally, Microsoft noted that 28 of the top 30 are “useful even without in-app purchase”, with the additional purchases used to enhance the experience…