Blackberry LBS Apps 4-Times More Expensive Than IPhone, Android LBS Apps

Wi-Fi hotspot based location services provider, Skyhook Wireless has released a report on trends in location-aware apps from Apple's App Store, Google's Android Marketplace and Blackberry App World.

The study found a great disparity in app cost between the three stores. The average price of a location-aware app in Blackberry App World is $13.60, compared with $3.60 in the iTunes App Store and $0.84 in the Android Marketplace.

The Apple App Store has the greatest number of location-based applications, at over 2,300, and the highest percentage of paid for LBS apps, at over 75%. Sixty seven percent of Blackberry apps are paid and eighty percent of Android Marketplace apps are free.

After standardizing app types across all three App Stores, this report found 17 different types of apps that use location. The most popular location aware apps are Travel, Navigation, and Social Networking, but new types of apps, like Music, Finance, and Games, are also integrating location in new ways.

"Skyhook's comparative study of location aware app stores reveals three very different types of stores in key measurements like the average cost of apps, total number of apps and growth over time." said Kate Imbach, director of marketing and developer programs at Skyhook Wireless. "We are excited to release the first in a series of Skyhook Wireless App Store reports to track the evolution of location apps within these app stores."

The 8-page report is available at http://www.locationrevolution.com/stats/skyhookaprilreport.pdf

Posted to the site on 20th May 2009