iPhone News Updated

App Store grows, but apps are seldom used

iPhone users have short attention spans.

At least that’s the conclusion from data collected by Pinch Media, a company that helps developers track the use of their iPhone applications.

Pinch found that of the users who download free applications from the App Store, only 20 percent use the app the next day, and far fewer do as the days pass. For paid applications, the return rate is only slightly better: 30 percent of people use the application the day after they buy it. The drop-off rate for paid applications is about as steep as for free applications after the first day.

Generally, 1 percent of users who download an application turn into long-term users of it, Pinch found. Pinch has noticed some differences based on the kind of application. For example, sports applications get more use than others in the short term, while entertainment applications tend to keep users for longer than others.

Pinch has discovered, or at least confirmed, some other interesting usage trends as well. Developers have a far greater success rate once they rise to the top of the store, which Apple ranks based on popularity. Once applications hit the top 100, the number of daily new users increases by 2.3 times, Pinch said.

Also, free applications tend to get more use than those that cost. Users run free applications, on average, 6.6 times as often as paid applications, Pinch said.
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How To: Create a US iTunes Store (AppStore) account from outside the US without a credit card

So, you reside in Canada, Europe, Latin America, or anywhere else in the world. By now you might have noticed that not all iPhone apps are available in your local iTunes AppStore, so you cannot download some of them although American iPhone owners can. Annoying, isn’t it?

But did you know that there is a very easy fix for that? It’s a little known fact, but there is a loophole that allows you to create an American iTunes / AppStore account regardless of where you live. This will allow you to download apps that are only available in American AppStore — and there’s quite a few of those.

Below is a short and sweet step-by-step that will tell you how to create an American iTunes / AppStore account without giving out any personal information. This method was tested and found to be working with the latest iTunes version, although it should probably work with older versions as well.

This process is pretty easy with one little trick you need to do.

1- Open iTunes

2- Click on ‘iTunes Store’ on the left hand menu.

3- Scroll to the bottom where it says ‘My Store’ and select ‘United States’

4- Find a free application (ie. Remote) and click ‘Get App’

5-iTunes will prompt you for your user id and password, but instead click ‘Create New Account’

6- You’ll get a welcome message. Click ‘Continue’
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