It is our pleasure to release our latest Distimo Report.

This report covers the Apple App Store for iPad, the Apple App Store for iPhone, BlackBerry App World (worldwide), Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm App Catalog and Windows Marketplace for Mobile for July 2010 in the United States. The major findings are:

• The average price of the 100 most popular applications in Google Android Market and Palm App Catalog is higher than the average price of the entire catalogue of applications.
• While the average price of all applications is only 16% higher in the Apple App Store for iPad than in the Apple App Store for iPhone, the average price of the 100 most popular applications is nearly three times as high in the Apple App Store for iPad.
• More than 60% of applications are priced below or equal to $2.00 in the Apple App Store for iPhone, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store and Palm App Catalog.The proportion of applications priced below or equal to $2.00 is much lower in the Apple App Store for iPad and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
• Paid applications are priced lowest in Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store and Palm App Catalog.
• Google Android Market has the largest share of free applications available; 60%, representing an increase of 3% since May 2010 when it was 57%.The share of free applications is smallest on Windows Marketplace for Mobile (22%), followed by the Apple App Store for iPad (26%) and BlackBerry App World (26%).
• The top three cross-store publishers that publish applications in multiple stores are Gameloft, Electronic Arts and Handmark, Inc.
• In the Apple App Store for iPad, BlackBerry App World and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the respective companies that run each application store, (Apple, Research In Motion and Microsoft) are the top publishers in their own store with only a limited number of applications. Clickgamer.com and Offscreen publish many popular games in the Apple App Store for iPhone and Nokia Ovi Store making them the top publishers in these stores.
• The top grossing publisher in the Apple App Store for iPhone is Electronic Arts, which publishes free and paid applications as well as applications with in-app purchases.

You can download the report for free here.

GigaOM Developer Survey
GigaOM is conducting a developer survey, in partnership with Distimo. If you are interested to participate, please go the survey.

Samsung App Store On TV

Last January, Samsung announced that it would bring support for Apps to their upcoming HD TV’s, with distribution through Samsung’s existing App Store.

Now Samsung opened up their Apps platform for TV’s, with the launch of an SDK and the first applications available to download on the new Samsung TV’s.

Together with this announcement, Samsung is opening a competition for the best TV apps, offering $500,000 in cash and prizes for the individuals or teams that develop the best looking, most brilliantly conceived, and most functional apps. More info on how to enter this competition can be found here.

To vitalize the Smart TV market, it is crucial to provide quality local content tailored to consumers of different countries. We are expanding the Samsung Apps Contest from Korea to the US and Europe and will work hard to create an environment where developers, consumers and Samsung win together. (Boo-keun Yoon, president of Samsung’s Visual Display division via Mobile Entertainment)

A European version of the contest will launch later this year.

To date, the beta tools have been download over 300,000 times, which indicates that Microsoft has been able to generate some momentum around the Windows Phone 7 platform. The final Developer Tools will also introduce several “highly requested” Silverlight controls, and the panorama, pivot and Bing Maps controls will be available to drop into applications.

While issuing the new timing schedule, Microsoft also advised developers to have apps ready for submission to the Windows Phone marketplace “in early October, when it opens”. This advise indicates that Microsoft is is targeting to launch its platform before the Christmas season. A limited beta test of the app store submission and certification process will be conducted in the coming weeks.

RIM just updated BlackBerry App World to 2.0, with the following new features:

• Credit card and wireless billing options: Previously, only PayPal was supported. Now, BlackBerry App World also supports paying for apps using a credit card or through operating billing.
• Barcode scanning capabilities: Now users can also scan barcodes that will direct them to the app in App World instantly.
• Apps starting at 99 cents: Previously, paid apps started at $2.99. Now developers can charge either $0.99 or $1.99 as well.
• ‘Streamlined’ My World View: A more simplified view of the applications that are installed, archived, deleted or pending.
• New ‘Top 25′ Lists; Themes, Newest Apps, Updated Apps and more
• BlackBerry ID: Using BlackBerry ID, people can log in to App World using their email address and password. This will enable them to access all downloads on their smartphones or computers. More importantly however, users with multiple BlackBerry devices can switch devices while keeping their applications.

These features are all welcome additions. However, as Engadget reports, the revenue split developers receive is down from 80% to 70%, significantly lowering the revenue developers receive.

Xbox Live is already available for the successful Xbox 360 and PC gamers, with over 25 million users. With Xbox Live, gamers can check out new games, keep track of scores and send messages to fellow players. Part of the service is Xbox Live Marketplace, where users can test and purchase games online. Microsoft now announced that the full Xbox Live suite, including the Marketplace, will be built into the Windows Phone 7 OS.

The company has announced a full list of launch titles for WP7 handsets, including some familiar names and franchises like Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero. In total, the company will launch with over 60 game titles, with new offerings appearing every week in the Xbox Live Marketplace, just like its big brother console version (via Engadget).

Considering the popularity of Games on other platforms, especially for paid content, the Xbox Live Marketplace seems a great opportunity for both future Windows Phone users and game developers. However, from the announcement, it seems that this Marketplace will not be open to all game developers. Microsoft has started an own Mobile Games Studio, that both develops its own games and works with external game houses to bring content to the Xbox Live Marketplace for Windows Phone as well.

The question is how and if this will work for many of the smaller game developers that already have successful games on other platforms. Will they get access to this Marketplace, or will Microsoft use the also upcoming Windows Phone 7 Marketplace to distribute other gaming content outside the Xbox platform to Windows Phone 7? We think this is very likely, where a Windows Phone 7 users can get Games in two different ways; from both the Phone 7 and Xbox Live Marketplaces.

Since August 16, Nokia offers Ovi Publishers the ability to sign their Symbian apps for free. Besides lower expenses for developers, this brings the time necessary for obtaining a publisher ID and paying a third party to have their apps Symbian signed down from four to two weeks. Apps written using Qt, Symbian C++, and Flash Lite are supported.

By removing the “public beta” from Symbian Signing, “Nokia is demonstrating to Ovi Publishers its commitment to review the initial investment costs associated with getting a publisher ID and getting their apps signed”. Nokia notes however that they only cover the costs of Symbian signing of SIS files that would normally be express signed. Apps (SIS files) that require certified signing will not be signed by Nokia, which means that a third party signing solution will be required.

Navigon’s MobileNavigator iPhone apps were on sale for four days, starting August 12 and ending August 15, We analyzed the impact of this sale on the application’s ranking in the store. The chart below displays the rank of MobileNavigator Europe in France for the first seventeen days of August. The sale period is indicated using a light gray box.

Top Overall rank of MobileNavigator Europe in France

Before the sale started, the MobileNavigator Europe app was ranked between rank 150 and 300 in the Top Overall category. At the first day of the sale, its rank instantly increased to a number 5 position. After the 3-day sale, the rank started dropping again and lowered to a position of 48. An interesting fact is that the estimated total revenue of Navigon also increased during the sale, which can be concluded based on the higher rank (increased from #9 to #1) in the Top Overall Top Grossing list.

In line with other PocketGear powered stores, this store supports multiple platforms: Android OS, BlackBerry, Palm (including Web OS), Symbian and Windows Mobile. There are not too many details about the developer terms. Since the full store is operated by PocketGear, their normal terms which include a 60% developer revenue share, will most likely apply.

The store’s supported billing methods are credit card and PayPal. Developers interested in publishing their applications in the Dell Mobile Applications Store, please find more info at the PocketGear developer website.

You can find more details about this store on appstores.info.

In order to make purchases on the Apple Online Store for Education, Apple has to verify if the purchaser is authorized by their institution to encumber funds on behalf of the institution. Authorized purchasers are able to check out (purchase) quotes/proposals that have been submitted by other employees of an institution. Purchases may be made with a valid purchase order number or PCard.

Volume Vouchers can be purchased at the Apple Store for Education in denominations of $100, $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000. These vouchers can be bought on behalf of the educational institution by an Authorized Purchaser, and they may use purchase orders.

Apple App Store - Try Before You Buy section

If consumers purchase an application in the Apple App Store for iPhone or iPad, there is no re-fund mechanism in place in case a consumer is not happy with the purchase. Therefore many developers have built lite versions which are offered for free, so consumers can first take the app for a spin. It is not clear if Apple has any plans to start offering refunds. Other stores like the Google Android Market already have in fact a refund policy; consumers can return applications within 24 hours after the purchase and get a full refund.