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Millions

Free apps make millions of dollars – here’s how they do it

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Free apps make millions of dollars – here’s how they do it

Instagram, Clash of Clans, Tinder, and Snapchat are all free. In fact, 90-percent of apps are free because people expect them to be free. So how do developers stay in business?

In-app advertising

In-app advertising is the most popular and profitable way to monetize an app. Because everyone spends massive amounts of time scrolling, watching, and engaging, in-app advertising is the fastest growing form of mobile advertising. App-install ad revenue is estimated to grow to more than $100 billion by 2020, according to BI Intelligence.

The concept is simple: advertisers pay for impressions and clicks, and the developer profits from it.

Remember Taco Bell’s sponsored Snapchat Lense? That campaign raked in 224 million views, and cost Taco Bell tens of millions of dollars. Fortunately, it paid off, because, in addition to a whopping 224 million views, Snapchat stated that the time users spent messing around with the filter was the equivalent of 12.5 years of play ー in one day.

In-app purchases

If you’ve ever impulsively bought a Candy Crush Bundle, you’re a victim of the in-app purchase. These are tempting offers developers strategically create to crack open your wallet. These in-app purchases take the disguise of add-ons, power ups, boosters, extras ー you name it.

A little over 5-percent of users spend money on in-app purchases, yet how much money these customers spend is 20x greater than what companies earn from all other users combined. In-app purchase revenue is projected to reach $37 billion by the end of this year ー which speaks to how desperate people are to reach that next level.

Freemium

This method of monetization is similar to in-app purchases but has a slight difference. To access the complete feature set, you need to cash out for the premium version.

According to Apple:

In the freemium business model, users pay nothing to download your app and are offered optional in-app purchases for premium features, additional content, or digital goods.

Spotify is a great example of a company utilizing the freemium model. If you refer to the comparison below, the average broke Spotify listener is very limited when it comes to using the app. On the other hand, Premium listeners have access to every feature available.

The music streaming app pushes its users to become Premium users pretty aggressively. Almost every ad is about upgrading to premium or trying the 30-day free trial ー and it works. Of Spotify’s 75 million Monthly Active Users, 20 million are paying customers. For context, the average freemium conversion rate is 2 to 4-percent, but Spotify’s is 27-percent.

Subscriptions

Productivity and content-based apps (newspapers) typically use subscriptions to create recurring revenue. Because this revenue model typically requires a lot more cash and data from users, it’s not as popular as other monetization methods. But the apps which do use this strategy pull it off well.

Apps that utilize subscriptions earn 2-3x more than apps that rely on advertising or paid downloads. They also earn 50% more compared to apps that offer in-app purchases.

Take the meditation app Headspace for example. To truly “unlock the full Headspace experience,” one must commit to an annual subscription of a mere $7.99/mo.
The company’s annual revenue is more than $50 million and is valued at $250 million. Not bad for a free app that helps you breathe.

[“Source-thenextweb”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

8tracks Internet Radio Service Hacked; Details of Millions of User Accounts Stolen

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

8tracks Internet Radio Service Hacked; Details of Millions of User Accounts Stolen

HIGHLIGHTS

8tracks confirmed breach and is urging users to change their passwords
It says that the hashed password can only be accessed through brute force
8tracks has identified the the attack vector used by the hacker

Blame it on bad passwords or the fact that the Internet is just no longer safe, but reports of data breaches seem to have shot up in the past few years. In what seems to be a breach similar to the massive Dropbox and LinkedIn debacles of the past, popular Internet radio service 8tracks has been hacked, potentially leaving millions of accounts vulnerable.

The data breach reportedly gave hackers account details of millions of users dating back to 2008, Motherboard learned from breach notification site LeakBase. The site obtained a dataset of 6 million 8track usernames, email IDs and hashed passwords, out of a total 18 million accounts. It further found that the passwords were hashed using ageing but still widely used SHA1 algorithm, something Google recently cracked, leaving them unsecure.

8tracks is aware of the breach and explained in a blog post that the hashes are difficult to access and can only be done through brute force attacks, which is complex and unlikely. However, the company is still urging its users to change their 8tracks passwords as well as on any other site where they may have used the same password. The Internet radio service informed Motherboard that it would notify its customers and has identified the attack vector used by the hacker, securing the account in question. They also reassure that the stolen data did not include credit card information.

Those using 8tracks may want to change their passwords as well as make sure the same password is not being used elsewhere. It also advised to use a two-factor authentication and password managers like LastPass or 1password, but maybe not OneLogin.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Tech Update

Kamala Harris Wants to Give States Millions to Update Tech

by Loknath Das March 17, 2019

written by Loknath Das

(via geralt/Pixabay)

Elizabeth Warren isn’t the only one fighting to break up big tech.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) this week introduced legislation that would earmark millions of dollars for governments to “update and rebuild” their systems.

It also supports the United States Digital Service (USDS), formed in 2014 to offer IT consultation services to federal agencies.

“Americans deserve a government that works for them and that just plain works,” Harris said in a statement. “We must do more to empower our state and local governments to tap into the power of technology to provide seamless, cost-effective services for the 21st century.”

The Digital Service Act promises an annual $50 million to USDS, plus $15 million per year for state and local administrations to invest in “digital services”—small teams of technologists, designers, and civil servants.

The latter would be dispensed as two-year grants, in the amount of $200,000 to $2.5 million per year, according to The Verge.

There are some conditions, though: Harris stipulates that at least 50 percent of each grant should be used “for talent rather than technology,” and that recipients must report their progress before the end of two years.

“The Digital Service Act represents an opportunity to help government move fully into the digital age—to get better outcomes that cost less and, ultimately, rebuild faith and trust in our public institutions,” Jennifer Pahlka, executive director of Code for America and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, said.

If passed, this would be “an important step towards making government truly work for all Americans,” she added.

Read more about the history of Harris’s proposed legislation online, as well as the full bill text.

Calls to break up big tech companies like Facebook and Google has spurred a larger discussion about technology competition among Democratic presidential candidates, many of whom support the proposal.

[“source=geek”]

March 17, 2019 0 comment