The App Store is at a crossroads.

The war on mobile phone applications has been repeated and never even stopped. In the "mobile phone pre-installed application of the path gradually failure", mobile phone applications online to promote the value of increasingly prominent.

As an online promotion of the main force, the application shop shuffle has never stopped. The heat of the App store's involvement has begun to cool last year. Affected by the changes in the mobile internet industry and the capital strength of the dual guidance and promotion, has a first-mover advantage of the application store has begun to find a clear commercial path, a firm footing. Those who failed to commercialize the online channels, did not get enough investment to keep the company forward, can only sadly leave the field.

Now, for the many years of application stores, the good news is that the market has been hard to incorporate into the new entrants from scratch. "The market has been squeezed out and it's too late to go into the app Store now, but consider buying other app stores," he said. "Some investors say so.

But those who survive are also under threat from the Giants who do not play by the rules. Typical 360 assistants, relying on the 360 security guards and other products of the existing resource advantages, do not seek to share the revenue, is through the same free logic as always destroyed the existing application store business model.

Today, the shuffling of online channels has not ended and a new round has even begun. After Baidu announced 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to buy 91 wireless, the choice of independent application shops again mentioned before, in the end is to seek to be merged with the Giants to achieve coupling value or insist on independent forward? Future opportunities in the game of intermodal or exploration O2O or electric dealers, videos or other?

The App Store is at a crossroads.

Fierce competition

As a platform for mobile internet users to personalize and long tail demand, the online channel of application promotion has always been a contender.

Since 2008, when Apple built the "operating system + Terminal + content" of the closed-loop ecosystem, the App Store is becoming the standard for smartphones.

Apple imitators followed, with operating system manufacturers such as Google (Weibo), terminal manufacturers such as Nokia, telecom operators such as China Mobile (micro-blog) mm store to join the games, in addition, a large number of independent third-party application shops springing up.

In the past few years, the operators ' app stores were virtually nothing. Earlier this year, Verizon, the US operator, also announced the closure of its own app store. Manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, HTC and other applications are limited to their own mobile phone pre-installed, or closed, failed to achieve cross brand operation. If the above two kinds of manufacturers attributed to their own closed, the Third-party application store for the open has a foothold, and into a blossoming trend.

In the third-party app Store, there are also multiple classifications.

In terms of independence, one is an app store owned by the internet giant. The layout is relatively early, Tencent, NetEase, Sohu have their own Application Center. Baidu also has application centers and assistants, 360 also last year launched application assistants. The other is a separate Third-party application store. For example, 91 Wireless's 91 assistants and Android Market, pea pods, application sinks, Jifeng nets, Android, wood ants, n multiple nets.

On the platform, the 91 assistants and Android Market are on the full platform, including the iOS system jailbreak and apps distribution. iOS jailbreak also has synchronous push (91 Assistant founder Xun Jun) and PP assistant. Most app stores are currently competing in the Android app Market, and the PP assistant who makes iOS escapes has recently launched the Android version.

There are also a number of special application stores, such as the music Network, the main game recommended and intermodal. Cool App Store main high-end user market and boutique applications, relatively small audience. Mobile phone manufacturers in the application store, the more well-known is the Millet application store, mainly for millet mobile phone users and MIUI brush machine users.

Brutal competition

There will be brutal competition at times of contention. Hundreds of online channels, by a variety of indicators to measure, always rely on the front of the 10 or so.

According to the 2012 third party App Store report, in the comparison of several popular applications and game downloads, Tencent, Baidu, 91, 360, pea pods and so on, although the ranking fluctuations, but basically occupy the first five share. Then there are application stores such as application sinks, Android, and Android.

The industry estimates that, from the current daily average application distribution, 360 of assistants in 40 million, 91 assistants and Android stores are more than 20 million. Other application stores range from millions of to 20 million. An electric dealer client application promotion Director said, currently 360 assistants and 91 assistants, Android Market share of the market accounted for about half of its channel flow.

After the application of distribution to form a gradient, for the application of the promotion staff, but also to take the principle of the big put small to promote. They generally and 10 of the promotion channels to establish a major cooperative relationship, other channels mainly through the agency to carry out. This advertising media company to reselling opportunities. They can receive from many channels, and then do the application distribution, the middle to earn the difference. But these long tail flow is also quite considerable, together more than some large channels.

Ecological deterioration

Applications are distributed at the same time in dozens of channels and are already a common practice in application promotion. Plus many for the editorial manual, the inevitable result of the application of the homogeneity of the store competition.

On the one hand, the brutal competition, on the one hand homogenization, "application store in order to survive, are doing income." One industry analyst said.

The application store mainly has the advertisement main launch, the application promotion launches, the user pays three kinds of profit pattern. Since most of the domestic Android phone apps are free, the habit of paying users to download Android apps is not as much as paying off the iOS system, and users are paying very little, so the App Store's revenue is mostly advertising.

Since the middle of last year, with the maturity of mobile game ecology, game manufacturers to promote the demand and the application of the store's own profit demand hit, the application store and game developers of the game through the transport of the application store is the main source of revenue.

To apply for example, people familiar with the matter said that the company is now starting to profit, advertising and gaming revenue accounted for 50%. Pea pods are also the two main income, because the platform has just begun to transport games, the current advertising and gaming income ratio of 80% and 20%. Cui, co-founder of Peas and pods, is optimistic that the share of gaming revenues will rise to 80% by the end of the year.

At present, the domestic independent application store is also in the test water other commercialization direction. Pea pods in the exploration of video, music and other new directions, the application of sinks are more optimistic about the direction of application search.

Coins always have two sides. For app stores, advertising and game-walking patterns make them feel secure to survive, but those who use them find their work harder.

"A lot of app stores are crazy about earning money, leading to fewer free places to recommend applications and getting a free location is very difficult." The cost of paying for promotion is getting higher. "One industry person in charge of application promotion said. He thinks, the disadvantage that the game transports to oneself brings, a lot of recommended position gives game, other application recommendation is less and fewer.

At the same time as these independent store for survival desperately commercial, Baidu, 360 of assistants do not worry. "360 of the assistants themselves do not make income, and there are 360 mobile phone Guardian Diversion volume, there is no survival pressure, just in order to grab the share, just like the same year into the antivirus field, online channel expansion, they are also taking the same path." said the person.

Split Shuffle

Under pressure, the transformation of online channels has been carried out, and the differentiation towards different directions has begun.

Pea pods from the beginning do not treat themselves as an application store, but the fact has become an important application distribution platform. They are more likely to continue to use the power of technology to achieve growth, such as the first on-line application search, the establishment of the application of the gene pool, as well as the pea wash, model recognition, 0 flow download and other innovative functions. "Competitiveness in the technology to build up after the fight with the labor, the operation of the channel is not the same." "Cui said.

The application of the same as innovation Workshop is to take the "small and beautiful" path. In the case of profit, through the application of the search and recognition of the application recommended "full, quasi, true and fast", and test the water e-book download, aggregated advertising and other models.

The Jifeng net moves toward the game direction. In addition to the game mode, the exclusive agent of the game has become one of the goals, but also launched a variety of self-research games.

There are also for different user groups, such as already doing boutique application of the cool. "The needs of high-end users and the needs of ordinary users are very distinct, large application stores will also have a clear population division." "Industry analyst.

In Baidu 1.9 billion yuan acquisition 91 wireless, is to become a large company to obtain and Exchange user traffic service platform? or remain independent? This topic is revisited on the app Store's agenda.

"After Baidu bought 91, other app stores have to consider the problem of being in the same box," he said. "said one analyst. such as the giant among the Alibaba, Sina, and so far there is no mobile phone helper entry-level products, in the future they do not rule out the acquisition of application stores to enhance the mobile Internet entrance layout of the possibility.

The acquisition of Giants does not mean an improvement in the competitive environment, but rather a brutal competition from the App Store because of the Giants ' affiliation.

"At first there were hundreds of channels, now dozens of, and maybe only 10 left in the end," he said. The Internet analyst said.

He argues that the lack of promotion channels for the App store itself can easily die. On the other hand, the upstream industry chain to control the disadvantage of the online channel is very easy to die, for example, and mobile phone factory negotiations pre-installed, change volume, no cooperation channels will be off the field.

Still, App Store practitioners are optimistic about survival. Shangcong, co-founder of Applied Sinks, believes that the scarcity of things is always valuable, as long as you can guarantee that you have so much market share in that, can not be worthless. On the other hand, the market has not been carved up by the Giants. "Until the end of this year or the middle of next year, there is a large market for new users to dig." ”

"Users from traditional mobile phones to the first use of Android phones, the most important thing is to download the application." Cui that the market is still in the stage of eating the demographic dividend. "It is now in the process of the first time a traditional mobile phone is switched to a smartphone, Android phone user, and this process will continue into the middle of next year, making the plate bigger by the new user market." ”