AppTrace [BETA]

Looks like they're just scraping data from the App Store, same as AppAnnie, so there's no reason it would not be accurate. I checked against an app we've launched and they've got the right data on rankings and reviews. Actually, I'd say they based on their marketing material and layout they are setting up to compete with AppAnnie (which recently got a bunch of venture funding).

The interesting views they offer are the category views that show volatility and how many free apps vs paid apps there are. This is really only useful for Apple's top grossing category -- for instance, I'm looking at the "Role Playing" game sub-category and seeing that only 63% of the top grossing are free apps. An indie looking for confirmation on which category / kind of app to develop could get some help here.

I think Apptrace will only REALLY be interesting if they can start estimating the # of downloads and amount earned for specific apps. I'm not seeing that here. AppAnnie does it for paid customers (and is pretty accurate, I hear) but only big companies can afford it.

 

Seems to be owned and run by a mobile ad analytics company, not exactly a bad thing, but I still wonder...

If more of the big studios begin to develop their games/apps based on statistical analysis of the market, will that not have a negative effect on the overall quality of (mobile) games we are likely to see in the future?

Instead of seeing innovative and interesting new (console quality) games, we could potentially see a tsunami of more casual, free, iAP-heavy stuff

 

Well it seems to me that's already the case.

 

I tend to think more knowledge is better. I doubt indies will have their souls corrupted by getting a clearer picture of the market. Hopefully it would just mean they'd be less likely to fail.

 

From what I can see, there is nothing new about this site that hasn't been provided by appFigures.com and appannie.com for years.

Plus now that Google has an in-app analytics framework, branching out into in-app analytics and charging for it is a dead business model.

 

Hi,

I'm Peter, product manager at apptrace.

It's correct to say that we are using the Apple data feeds to display the information on apptrace.com. Nothing new here, but we think we have a much clearer UI, more interesting derived stats like volatility and we are working on a global rank for apps. However, this is just the beginning.

The service is and will remain free. We have a very extensive roadmap for more features and we are looking forward to hear your feedback!