Apple recently updated its iTunes App Store to include a list of the top 200 highest grossing applications in the entire store. While the App Store does not include a list for the biggest revenue generating apps by category, eight medical, health or fitness iPhone applications are among the top 200 highest grossing apps overall.
The only way to rank apps in the past was by popularity, which seems to rank by number of downloads within a certain period of time. Since some apps costs much more than others, the strategies that go along with service pricing do not factor into an application’s success, if you go by that metric. Ranking apps by the revenue generation, however, does.
You will note that the eight apps listed below range in price from $1.99 to $299.99. Cheaper apps need to appeal to a mass audience to make it into the top grossing apps rankings, however, extremely expensive apps can also make the cut if their content is worth their pricetag. Take a look through this list to determine where your wireless health service’s price tag should fall — or flip through them just to see which health, medical and fitness application developers are raking it in.
22. iFitness $1.99
Coming in at number 22 out of 200 on the highest grossing iPhone application list is iFitness, which is consistently ranked as one of the most popular iPhone Health & Fitness apps, too. No wonder: It’s download pricetag is only $1.99 so it must have sold a lot of apps to make it this high up on the list. The app currently generates more revenue than any other health, fitness or medical app in the AppStore.
From the company: iFitness is our solution for expensive personal trainers at your local gym. Performing an exercise incorrectly is harmful to your body, and repeating the same few exercises you know will never push you forward — that is why iFitness is so handy.
iFitness offers:
+ over 110 fully illustrated exercises with accompanying text
+ favorites option to create your own custom routine
+ preset routines that our experts have made for reaching different goals
+ exercises organized by the muscles they target
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September 17th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
[...] See the original post: The Real Top Medical iPhone Apps (Money-making edition) [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
[...] Brian Dolan wrote an interesting post today onThe Real Top Medical iPhone Apps (Money-making edition <b>…</b>Here’s a quick excerpt [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 6:38 am
With the exception of the Anatomy app none of these are really Medical apps. They are all health and fitness apps for the individual. A medical app, in my definition, helps healthcare providers deliver care or learn how to be a healthcare provider.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Very interesting post but I think that the App Store “revenue generation top 200″ is probably an equally uncertain way to measure the success of an application as was App Store “Popularity”.
Some very successful apps exist outside of the top 200 grossing App list as the app providers are building free apps in order to generate traffic and brand awareness, with revenues coming from off-App store sales. A typical example of this might be the basic App’s being produced by companies such as airline operators. Many of these are simple widgets that launch URL’s designed to drive users to mobile optimised online storefronts.
In the health area fitness chains with free applications may never appear in the top 200 grossing Apps list but the companies behind them will undoubtedly be making great revenues through increased footfall, new subscriptions and instore sales. In a similar vain the “Ocado on the Go” online home delivery shopping App (that recommends “healthy balanced meal choices”) might be generating thousands of $$$ every week for the retailer from each download but it probably won’t be featuring on any of these “top” lists anytime soon. Obviously it’s all the more successful because the marketing/distribution/data carriage costs of these marketing tool Apps are being paid for by Apple/AT&T etc.
It’s also worth pointing out that a lot of these downloads are not related to mobile phone use as Apple have bundled the iPod Touch Downloads together so that they aren’t differentiated in these lists.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:46 am
@Brent: I disagree with your definition. Whilst there would be no grey area with your definition there definitely is in the area of pervasive participatory medicine which is preventative, health enhancing and life prolonging.
Applications such as iFitness definitely hold the promise of enhancing an individuals medical care and may even hold more promise than irregular/brief encounters with clinicians.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] the full article at Mobihealthnews here. Comments [0]Digg [...]
September 21st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I agree that these are not medical apps. There is a separate Health category and all of these shouldn’t be allowed to list “Medical” as a category.
The same goes for the eye charts, hearing tests, and any other “guide” for the layman. Those are self-help Health apps, not Medical apps.
As the App Store gets bigger, more and more developers are sticking their apps in the smaller categories whether they belong there or not.
True medical apps in Medical now only stay on page 1 for about 2 days. The “popularity” ranking is useless as it is loaded with free apps and trivial 99 cent apps which take up the first 10 pages. They might as well just reverse-rank by price.
There’s even one “lab values” app that a guy completely stole and copied from the original, word for word. The only thing he changed was the title, and that only subtly.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:21 am
For those app developers that don’t know Objective-C and Cocoa Touch and don’t want to outsource development, check out localbeacon (an iphone app builder) at http://www.bigforge.com. Great for those who want to build just one app or developers interested in white label. Full integration of Twitter and Facebook.