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ESPN, Time and Epi Lead iPhone Hit Parade
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Brands matter. And when users have 85,000 mobile applications to choose from, brand recognition may matter more than all the viral activity and social recommendations new media can muster. With Apple announcing this week its 2 billionth download from the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, we reflect on the astonishing resilience of magazine brands atop the most-downloaded programs in the sprawling world of Apple apps.

As many content providers look to mobile for the successful paid models that eluded many of them on the Web, it is important to note that few make it into the top 100, although this is a chart dominated by games. In its first day in the market CNN Mobile raced to the top of the paid apps chart, one of the very rare occasions when a content app has occupied that position. ESPN Radio (#6 among paid apps) was released more than a week ago and remains popular with a $2.99 price tag. The service offers on-demand access to ESPN Radio shows as well as live streams of game play-by-plays.

On-the-go multimedia is apparently very popular with mobile users, as the ESPN Radio app merits an extraordinary 4.5 stars out of 5 among hundreds of users. ESPN scores again in the paid app category with its Fantasy Football app (#38 after three weeks: Rated: 3.5), which lets fantasy league fanatics manage their teams and keep up to date for a flat $4.99 fee.

Among the Top 100 free apps across all categories, magazine brands fare well. Time Mobile is #15 and the second-highest-ranking media brand download this week, right behind ESPN Scorecard (#13: Rated: 3). Epicurious’s “Recipe and Shopping List” tool (#43, Rated: 2.5) suffered 144 one-star votes but also gathered a following. More than 160 users awarded the app four or five stars.

In the News category Time Mobile (#1 in News: Rating: 3) tops the free apps list. Popular Science Media Group’s PopSci app (#13: Rated: 3) earned good traction in its first week of release. BusinessWeek (#15: Rated: 2.5) continues its popularity even a month after initial release and with a modest user rating.

Indeed, brand seems to trump consumer satisfaction. The current ConsumerReports app (#18, Rated: 2) has such limited functionality that it seems to be a placeholder for a more robust offering that we understand Consumer Union is developing. The only print brand to crack the paid content category in News is The Onion’s cleverly designed Microfiche Headline Reader (#11 paid News app; Rating: 2). Which just goes to show that sheer cleverness only goes so far when consumers are ponying up even a trivial 99 cents.

In Finance, CNNMoney (#9 free app: Rated: 2.5) is only slightly more popular than the better-liked Bloomberg (#13 free app: Rated: 3.5).

Of course the popularity of a download is not indicative of overall use. Those are the kinds of metrics we still need in the market.

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