NPolls composed a survey of 5.013 iPhone/iPod/iPad users in 68 countries, concluding that the community is crazy about apps! In fact, 55% of individuals have downloaded more than 10 free apps in the last month and 69% have bought apps in the last month.

This poll was created with the NPolls iOS App between 21 and 23 of January, on a worldwide level focusing on iOS user app behavior. 86% of people who answered to the poll have purchased apps, where 6% of them spent more than 20 USD on apps in the last month. However, it was found to be most common that individuals spent less than 5 USD in the last month (32%).

From the survey, it was concluded that game apps are, by far, the most popular, where 74% of users have bought games. Sports and travel/lifestyle were among the less favored categories (19% and 20% of answers stating they have purchased these apps).

In which categories have you bought apps?

Purchasing habits of apps varied from country to country. French users are very conservative in buying apps (every vote below the overall behavior), in USA and UK, individuals tend to purchase more frequently. UK users prefer entertainment and music apps, whereas Italian users tend to buy utility/productivity apps. German users behave very similar to the overall habits of users.

When asked the type of business model app consumers prefer, the answer was “free!”. Period trials, limited features or 1 USD start price are rarely considered. People prefer free apps with advertising (66% of answers).

Another interesting conclusion from our survey is that app consumers buy on impulse. 81% do not bother to research before buying software. More than 86% do not care if the app seems useful or not. Most of consumers buy apps after evaluating the description/reviews of the app (36%).

89% recommend apps to their friends and 70% frequently write reviews about purchased or downloaded apps. One thing is for sure, if people don’t like the app they downloaded, they will delete them… after all, only 1% of our users have never downloaded a single app and 53% have delete apps, claiming they were bored of it.

What are the main reason(s) you would delete an app?

Among the iPod users, deleting apps out of boredom is very common, reaching an impressing 65% of users. While among iPad users, the percentage is 41%. Discarding apps in order to download/buy others is very popular among individuals younger than 25 (62% rid of their app due to boredom) while 34% of the audience older than 40 years declared the same.

NPolls is a professional survey system that runs 100% on IOs devices at worldwide level. Check more info at www.npolls.com or Partner with us for your market at partnerships@npolls.com

Technical information:

The sample is made of 5.014 IOs device owners between the 21th and 23th of January 2011.

– 27% are from USA, 63% from Europe and 10% from the rest of the world;
– 79% are men and 21% are women;
– 7% are less than 15 years, 40% from 15 to 24 years, 42% from 25 to 39 years and 11% are 40 or older;
– 41% have an annual income below 10.000 USD and 59% above 10.000 USD;
– 31% are students;
– 23% answers were from iPod Touch; 37% from iPhone 4; 28% from iPhone 3G(S) and 12% from iPad users;