Joe The Plummer

February 02, 2011 at 11:38am

The question here is are these one and done apps uninstalled? How are they basing this study? Did these users install the app, use it once and leave it on their device? Or did they actually uninstall them after the one use? Curious if the 26% represents people who used it once and left it on their device or if they also uninstalled it.

I have a bunch of free apps on my device that I've used once and haven't uninstalled because they aren't things I would use on a daily or weekly basis but maybe useful depending on the situation every so often, maybe 3 or 4 times a year.

Ghok

February 02, 2011 at 10:25am

Aren't lots of apps on smartphones just glorified webpages anyway? I mean, things that are better done on webpages, but are riding the wave of app popularity? I can imagine people downloading an app just to do something they have to do once.

It would be kind of nice if you had a 24 hour return window on downloaded products. Last night I spent 20 bucks on a game on Steam, but gave it a whirl and hated it. My own fault really, I should have researched the game more, but so few games have demos. There isn't much incentive for content distributors to do this, though. Only a bit of customer service, and I think they'd rather have the money. Still, it also means I'm less likely to impulse buy in the future.

MeanSquare

February 02, 2011 at 9:43am

I'm not surprised to see that a lot of apps only get used once.  I've downloaded an app many times just to see how it worked and then decided that I don't really want it.  Those apps have all been free.  I do have a few paid apps as well, but I tend to research those a lot more before I download.  I haven't had to resort to a refund yet, but there's always that option.