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By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News
While some apps generate millions for developers, most are rarely downloaded
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Apple's App Store is populated by many "zombie" programs which get next-to-no
downloads, new research suggests.
Figures seen by the BBC from tracking service Adeven indicate over two-thirds
of apps in the store are barely ever installed by consumers.
However Apple has said that 90% of all apps in the marketplace - which is
marking its five-year anniversary - are downloaded at least once a month.
Apple boss Tim Cook said the store had "fundamentally changed the world".
Speaking to app developers at the firm's recent developer's conference, the
chief executive said: "Customers love the buying experience and they love your
incredible apps. And they have now downloaded 50 billion apps.
"That's a lot of zeros and a truly staggering number."
'Very small'
But according to Adeven the size of the US firm's app store, which has about
900,000 products, has left many developers struggling to get noticed.
"579,001 apps out of a total of 888,856 apps in our database are zombies," the
analytics firm said.
It defines zombies as apps which never appear in Apple's master-list of the
most downloaded apps worldwide, a chart which runs to over 300,000 places.
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Top apps of all time
The App Store's most popular paid-for iPhone apps ever are:
Angry Birds
Fruit Ninja
Doodle Jump
Cut the Rope
Angry Birds Seasons
WhatsApp Messenger
Camera+
Words with Friends
Tiny Wings
Angry Birds Space
The most popular free iPhone apps are:
Pandora Radio
YouTube
Skype
Words With Friends Free
The Weather Channel
Temple Run
Google Search
Source: Apple
"We can't say exactly how many downloads they have - Apple doesn't reveal this
- but it is very small."
Adeven's research follows on from another survey conducted by Pew Research
Center's Internet & American Life Project.
It indicated that some 68% of smartphone owners used five or fewer apps on a
weekly basis, with many of their other "impulse" buys losing their appeal
almost instantly.
App developer Malcolm Barclay told the BBC that the amount of "zombie" apps was
not a surprise - but argued that there was "safety in numbers".
"There's a lot of apps in the store that are not downloaded for good reason,
they're awful.
"It's about making yourself attractive. If you have an attractive application
that does what it sets out to do, Apple will help it get noticed."
Influence
Zombies aside, the launch of the App Store in 2008 is widely regarded as a
game-changing moment for how we consume technology.
It has inspired other companies to follow suit, with Google, Microsoft and
Blackberry among those to have launched their own stores.
Apple says it has paid out $10bn ( 7bn) to app developers - three times more,
it boasts, than all the other app stores combined.
The "app economy", as it has become known, has also been responsible for
disrupting the video games industry.
Companies such as EA have shifted to offering downloads of many of their titles
for free, and make money through in-app sales of power-ups and other add-ons.
Those that do charge an upfront fee are still relatively cheap.
In particular, the popularity of Rovio's Angry Birds - which has made millions
through franchising and merchandise sales - has made some games publishers
consider if the established model of charging 30 or more for console and PC
titles could become a thing of the past.
Even so, the development has not been without controversy.
Apple, which takes a 30% cut of all sales through its online marketplace, was
recently forced to offer refunds to parents who had found themselves facing
unexpected bills as a result of in-app purchases by their children.