Consumer  behaviour  in  Apple’s  App  Store   Romel  Ayalew             Master’s  Thesis  in  Human  Computer  Interaction  (30  ECTS  credit)   Human  Computer  Interaction  Programme   Uppsala  University  Fall  2011                 1 Abstract       Mobile  applications  stores  such  as  Apple’s  App  Store  and  Google’s  Android  Market   revolutionized  the  distribution  of  applications  for  mobile  devices.    However,  with   thousands  of  application  submissions,  limited  testing  resources  and  the  lack  of  an   effective  filtering  mechanism,  application  stores  suffer  from  information  overload   and  a  risk  of  releasing  poor  quality  applications  that  could  create  confusion  to   consumers  and  may  seriously  affect  the  App  store  markets.  Thus  concern  has   been  raised  whether  applications  have  been  developed  according  to  the  need  and   interest  of  consumers.  Therefore,  the  purpose  of  this  study  was  mainly  to  identify   and  get  insight  into  the  main  factors  that  mobile  application  consumer  takes  into   consideration  when  purchasing  mobile  applications  from  the  desktop  iTunes  App   Store  and  the  mobile  App  Store  on  the  iOS  devices:  iPhone,  iPad  and  iPod  Touch.       In  this  study  both  qualitative  and  quantitative  case  study  approach  was  used.   Accordingly  twelve  participants  were  selected  from  Stockholm  and  Uppsala  area   and  their  behaviour  in  the  Apple’s  App  Store  from  the  desktop  iTunes  and  the   mobile   App   Store   on   iOS   devices   was   observed   and   recorded.   Additionally   questionnaires   were   administered   to   all   participants   in   order   to   gather   the   necessary  information.       Consumers  on  the  App  Store  behave  differently  depending  on  the  unit  they  are   using.  This  is  because  applications  on  the  App  Store  are  presented  differently  in   the  desktop  iTunes  App  Store  and  the  mobile  App  Store  on  the  iOS  devices.  The   study   shows   that   young   consumers   with   lower   income   purchase   apps   more   frequently  than  the  consumers  with  higher  income.  It  also  shows  that  consumers   often  consider  the  description,  the  screenshots,  and  the  ratings  when  they  are   interested  in  buying  applications.  Furthermore  consumers  take  a  look  more  on   ratings  in  the  list  on  the  iPhone  and  iPad  App  Store  because  the  ratings  are  not   shown  in  the  list  on  the  iTunes  App  Store.  Similarly  consumers  tend  to  read  the   customer   reviews   more   on   the   iTunes   and   iPad   App   Store   as   the   customer   reviews  on  the  iPhone  App  Store  is  displayed  in  another  page.  Consumers  were   found  to  be  more  attracted  by  visual  elements  that  they  are  already  familiarized   with,  apps  with  famous  logos  and  known  fonts  and  styles  but  also  to  coherent  and   descriptive  app  names  and  strong  colors  (i.e.  red,  green,  yellow,  black  and  blue,   respectively).  The  majority  of  the  participants  found  the  iTunes  App  Store  messy   and  cumbersome  to  use.  They  preferred  using  the  iPad  App  Store  because  they   found  it  to  be  a  good  mixture  of  both  iTunes  and  iPhone  App  Store  but  also   because  it  has  more  options  to  consider.       Although  consumers  behave  differently  depending  on  the  unit  they  are  using,  the   visual  element  of  the  apps,  prior  knowledge  of  consumers  about  the  name  of  the   apps,  ratings,  easy  accessibility  of  screenshots  and  customer  reviews  of  the  apps   were  found  to  be  the  main  factors  to  be  considered  by  consumers  when  they  visit   app   stores   for   purchase.   Thus   application   developers   and   digital   magazine   publishers  should  consider  these  consumer  behaviours  in  order  to  influence  more   downloads  and  successfully  sell  apps  on  the  app  stores.     Keywords:  Apps,  Apple’s  App  Store,  Consumer  behaviour,  iPhone,  iPad,  iTunes.     2 Acknowledgements       This  is  a  Master’s  thesis,  which  completes  my  Human  Computer  Interaction  study   at  Uppsala  University.  The  thesis  is  supported  by,  the  Sweden’s  leading  magazine   publisher  Bonnier  Tidskifter  AB.       First  of  all  I  would  like  to  thank  my  supervisor  professor  Mikael  Wiberg  at  the   Uppsala   University,   Professor   Mats   Lind,   Stanislaw   Zabramski   and   Solomon   Wondimkun  for  all  feedback  and  great  discussion  regarding  my  thesis.    Then  I   would   like   to   thank   Minna   Räsänen   (senior   lecturer   in   Media   Technology   at   Södertörn  University)  who  helped  me  find  this  thesis  project.  Finally  I  would  like   to  thank  all  the  people  at  Bonnier  Tidskrifter  AB  especially  Peder  Bonnier  who   provided  me  this  remarkable  study  project  and  also  all  the  participants  who   participated  in  this  study.  Thank  you  all  I  could  have  never  made  this  thesis   without  you.     Romel  Ayalew   Uppsala,  December  2011                                                         3 Table  of  Contents   INTRODUCTION  ..............................................................................................  6   1.1  BACKGROUND  ................................................................................................................................................  6   1.2  PROBLEM  DESCRIPTION  ..............................................................................................................................  7   1.3  RESEARCH  PURPOSE  .....................................................................................................................................  8   1.4  LIMITATIONS  ..................................................................................................................................................  8   2.  THEORY  ........................................................................................................  9   2.1  ONLINE  CONSUMER  BEHAVIOR  ..................................................................................................................  9   2.2  INFORMATION-­‐FORAGING  THEORY  ........................................................................................................  10   2.3  HCI  AND  USABILITY  ..................................................................................................................................  11   2.4  STUDY  OF  USER  EXPERIENCE  IN  MOBILE  APP  STORES  .......................................................................  12   3.  ECOSYSTEM  ...............................................................................................  13   3.1  APPLE  ...........................................................................................................................................................  13   3.2  APP  STORE  ..................................................................................................................................................  14   3.2.1  iTunes  App  Store  ................................................................................................................................  14   3.2.2  iPhone  App  Store  ................................................................................................................................  16   3.2.3  iPad  App  Store  .....................................................................................................................................  17   3.2.4  Apple  App  Store’s  Growth  ...............................................................................................................  19   3.3  CONSUMERS  ................................................................................................................................................  20   3.4  DEVELOPER  .................................................................................................................................................  21   4.  METHOD  .....................................................................................................  22   4.1  RESEARCH  APPROACH  ...............................................................................................................................  22   4.2  OBSERVATION  AND  RECORDING  METHODS  ...........................................................................................  23   4.3  PARTICIPANTS  RECRUITMENT  .................................................................................................................  23   4.3.1  Compensation  ......................................................................................................................................  24   4.4  TEST  PLAN  ...................................................................................................................................................  24   4.4.1  The  Test  Lab  .........................................................................................................................................  24   4.5  THE  TEST  PLAN  PROCESS  ..........................................................................................................................  24   4.5.1  Scenarios  and  Tasks  .........................................................................................................................  25   4.5.2  The  warm  up  task  ..............................................................................................................................  26   4.5.3  Navigation  on  the  iTunes  App  Store  ..........................................................................................  26   4.6  THE  SCENARIOS  ..........................................................................................................................................  27   4.6.1  Block  1  of  Scenarios  (Find  categories  in  the  App  Store)  ...................................................  27   4.6.2  Block  2  of  Scenarios  (Search  for  apps  in  the  App  Store)  ..................................................  29   4.7  VISUAL  ELEMENTS  IN  THE  APP  STORE  ...................................................................................................  31   4.7.1  Visual  elements  in  the  iTunes  App  Store  ..................................................................................  33   4.7.2  Visual  elements  in  the  iPad  App  Store  ......................................................................................  33   4.7.3  Visual  elements  in  iPhone  App  Store  .........................................................................................  33   4.8  RELIABILITY  AND  VALIDITY  .....................................................................................................................  34   4.9  POSSIBLE  CRETIC  ........................................................................................................................................  34   5.  RESULTS  .....................................................................................................  35   5.1  RESULT  OF  THE  PRE  TEST-­‐QUESTIONNAIRES  .......................................................................................  35   5.1.1.  Participant’s  demography  ............................................................................................................  35   5.1.1a  Summary  of  consumer  demographics  ....................................................................................  36   5.1.2.  Participants  usage  of  the  iOS  devices  .......................................................................................  37   5.1.3.  Participant’s  frequency  of  visit  and  usage  of  the  App  store.  ..........................................  39   5.1.3a  Summary  of  consumer’s  prior  experience  of  the  App  store.  .........................................  42   5.2  RESULT  OF  TASK  ANALYSIS  .......................................................................................................................  42     4 5.2.1  Result  from  the  warm  up  task  ......................................................................................................  43   5.2.2  Result  from  the  task  scenarios  .....................................................................................................  46   5.2.3  Result  from  the  visual  elements  quiz  questions  ....................................................................  54   5.3  RESULT  OF  POST  TEST-­‐QUESTIONNAIRES  .............................................................................................  63   5.3.1.  Participant’s  feedback  on  use  of  the  App  Store  ...................................................................  63   5.3.2.  Participant’s  comparison  of  the  App  Store  ............................................................................  70   6.  DISCUSSION  ...............................................................................................  74   6.1      DISCUSSION  OF  FINDINGS  FROM  PRE-­‐TEST  QUESTIONNAIRES  .........................................................  74   6.2  DISCUSSION  OF  FINDINGS  FROM  THE  TASK  ANALYSIS  ........................................................................  75   6.2a  What  do  users  do  when  they  visit  the  App  Store?  .................................................................  75   6.2b  What  obstacles  do  users  encounter  on  the  way  to  purchase  application  from  the   App  Store?  ........................................................................................................................................................  78   6.2c  What  do  users  think  of  digital  magazine  subscription  on  the  App  Store?  .................  79   6.2d  What  visual  elements  did  participants  remember  from  the  App  Store?  ....................  79   6.3  DISCUSSION  OF  FINDINGS  FROM  POST  TEST  QUESTIONNAIRES  .........................................................  81   7.  CONCLUSIONS  ...........................................................................................  82   7.1  RECOMMENDATIONS  .................................................................................................................................  83   7.2  FUTURE  RESEARCH  ....................................................................................................................................  84   8.  REFERENCE  ................................................................................................  85   APPENDIX  .......................................................................................................  89   APPENDIX  I.    LOOKING  FOR  PARTICIPANTS  ..................................................................................................  89   APPENDIX  II  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  ................................................................................................  90   APPENDIX  III.    THE  CONSENT  FORM  ..............................................................................................................  91   APPENDIX  IV.  PRE  TEST  QUESTIONNAIRE  ....................................................................................................  92   APPENDIX  V.  QUESTIONS  ABOUT  THE  USE  OF  APP  STORE  ........................................................................  96   APPENDIX  VI.  COMPARISON  QUESTIONS  ABOUT  THE  APP  STORE  ........................................................  101                                             5 Introduction       This   chapter   describes   the   purpose   of   the   research,   the   research   questions,   limitations  and  background  of  the  study.       1.1  Background       In   recent   years   the   use   of   smartphones   and   computer   tablets   has   increased   dramatically  and  mobile  applications  has  become  the  newest  topic  in  the  mobile   industry.   Mobile   applications   stores   such   as   Apple’s   App   Store   and   Google’s   Android  Market  revolutionized  the  distribution  of  applications  for  mobile  devices   and  they  have  become  an  extremely  visible  and  potentially  profitable  part  of   smartphone  environment.       According  to  [Strategy  Analytics,  2011]  the  total  number  of  mobile  applications   download   is   set   to   exceed   21   billion   in   2016   with   a   global   market   revenue   reaching  $32.6  billion.  Henceforth  there  will  be  many  new  key  players  struggling   for  a  share  of  both  downloads  and  revenue.       This  is  mainly  due  to  Apple’s  App  Store  that  allows  developers  to  sell  third-­‐party   applications  for  the  iPhone,  iPod  Touch  and  iPad  and  allow  users  to  download   applications  directly  to  their  device  or  onto  their  computer  via  iTunes.  Because  of   this,  the  App  Store’s  growth  rate  has  been  accelerating  ever  since  it  was  launched   in  July  2008  [Gartner,  2011].     Because  Apple  has  built  in  its  digital  distribution  model  through  iTunes  and  its   iOS  devises  such  as  the  iPhone,  iPod  Touch,  and  the  iPad  they  are  now  the  key   player  in  their  field.  Apple  has  informed  registered  Mac  and  iOS  developers  that   the  App  Stores  for  both  platforms  are  now  available  in  33  more  countries.  As  of   the  latest  additions,  the  iOS  and  Mac  App  Stores  can  now  be  accessed  in  123   nations  around  the  world  [Macworld,  2011].       Driven  by  Apple’s  success  with  the  App  Store,  selling  applications  for  its  devices,   other  device  manufacturers  have  opened  their  own  stores.  For  instance  Google   opened  the  Android  Market,  which  is  on  its  way  to  become  the  second-­‐largest   application  store,  Research  in  Motion  (RIM)  opened  App  World  for  Blackberry   users  and  Nokia  the  Ovi  Store  [ABI  research,  2011].                       6 1.2  Problem  Description       Although  application  distribution  has  become  increasingly  simple  due  to  the  rise   of  App  Stores,  evaluation  and  research  methods  have  to  be  adapted  to  this  new   context  to  get  the  best  data  and  feedback  from  wide  audience.  In  order  to  do  that   app  store  platform  characteristics,  devices,  reaching  target  users,  various  usage   contexts  have  to  be  dealt  with.       With  thousands  of  application  submissions,  limited  testing  resources  and  the  lack   of  an  effective  filtering  mechanism,  application  stores  suffer  from  information   overload.  Additionally,  since  application  stores  do  not  have  the  resources  to  test   every  submission  properly,  they  experience  an  increase  risk  of  releasing  poor   quality  applications  to  their  customers.  This  is  a  huge  problem  that  hinders  the   ability  to  bring  useful  and  attractive  applications  to  market  furthermore  if  the   consumers  cannot  find  useful  and  attractive  applications  in  the  App  Store  they   may  not  visit  the  store  again.       Hence  it  is  up  to  application  developers  to  attract  their  consumers,  by  organizing   content  and  engaging  users  in  order  to  make  a  profit.  In  order  to  achieve  this  goal,   the  developers  have  to  know  more  about  the  users  and  their  behavior  in  these   applications  store.     One  way  to  conduct  a  user  study  that  has  become  available  to  the  typical  Human   Computer  Interaction  (HCI)  researcher  is  to  use  the  application  stores  to  publish   research  prototypes  to  a  wide  audience.  This  distribution  channel  can  be  used  to   conduct  studies  with  participants  from  all  over  the  world.  Recently  researches   discovered  this  opportunity  and  began  to  publish  research  prototypes  via  mobile   application  stores  to  a  wide  audience.  By  doing  this  researchers  benefits  from  a   worldwide   audience   and   gain   access   to   participants   with   various   cultural   background  and  different  context.  By  developing  “Apps”  with  the  aim  to  answer   specific  research  questions  and  logging  user’s  behavior  it  is  possible  to  harvest  a   large  amount  of  data  samples.  For  instance  [Gilbertson  et  al.,  2008]  released  a   mobile  game  to  gather  feedback  for  future  publications  but  have  not  published   any  results  yet.  [Pielot  et  al,  2010]  reported  that  they  started  the  evaluation  of  a   tactile  navigation  system  by  publishing  the  system  in  the  Android  market.     However,  a  problem  with  these  approaches  is  that  feedback  is  mainly  gathered  to   understand  the  nature  of  the  respective  prototype  and  not  the  actual  users.  But  In   the  tradition  of  psychology,  Human  Factors  and  Human  Computer  Interaction   research   in   contrast   focus   on   understanding   the   human   rather   than   understanding  the  prototype.  By  conducting  different  experiments  such  as  quasi-­‐ experiments  and  observations  we  can  study  the  user  and  their  behavior  in  depth   to  derive  general  findings.  Consequently,  this  study  aims  to  identify  and  evaluate   the  variables  influencing  the  use  and  purchase  behavior  of  customers,  in  the   Apples  App  Store  through  the  desktop  iTunes  App  Store  and  the  mobile  App  Store   on  iOS  devices,  that  is  the  iPhone,  iPod  Touch  and  iPad.           7 1.3  Research  purpose       App  discoverability  is  not  only  an  issue  for  application  developers  but  also  for   consumers.  Consumers  on  the  App  Store  should  be  able  to  find  the  app  they  are   looking  without  any  problem.  However  since  there  are  various  kinds  of  apps  and   different  ways  of  finding  them  on  the  App  Store  consumers  may  not  choose  one   single   path   to   find   these   apps.   Therefore   it   is   important   that   application   developers  should  know  where  and  how  consumers  search  for  apps  on  the  App   Store  but  also  which  platform  they  use  when  they  visit  the  App  Store.  In  general   application  developers  should  understand  how  consumers  behaves  on  the  App   Store  not  only  on  the  desktop  App  Store  but  also  on  the  mobile  App  Store.       The  purpose  of  this  study  is  mainly  to  identify  and  get  insight  into  the  main   factors   that   mobile   application   consumer   takes   into   consideration   when   purchasing   mobile   applications   from   the   desktop   iTunes   App   Store   and   the   mobile  App  Store  on  the  iOS  devices.       In  order  to  challenge  the  main  research  problem  this  study  will  also  try  to  answer   the  following  specific  research  questions.     1. What  do  users  do  when  they  visit  the  App  Store?     2. Where  do  users  look  for  apps  on  the  App  Store?     3. What  obstacles  do  users  encounter  on  the  way  to  purchase  application   from  the  App  Store?       4. What  visual  elements  trigger  the  user  on  the  App  Store?     5. Which  unit  do  users  prefer  to  use  to  visit  the  App  Store?     1.4  Limitations         There   are   many   application   stores   in   the   market,   selling   anything   from   applications  to  media  content.  However  due  to  time  constraint  this  study  only   focus  on  the  major  application  store  Apples  App  Store.  Moreover  since  the  field  of   consumer  behavior  is  large  there  are  several  theories  and  models  that  identify  the   consumer,  nevertheless  this  study  will  limit  itself  to  identifying  the  consumer   through  their  consumer  characteristics  and  the  online  consumer  behavior  buying   process.                               8 2.  Theory     This  chapter  deals  with  the  theories  that  have  been  done  in  this  field  of  study  and  to   identify  the  research  gaps  that  the  present  study  has  attempted  to  address.     2.1  Online  Consumer  Behavior     The  study  of  online  consumer  behaviour  in  the  context  of  the  Internet  mainly   focused  on  two  key  aspects  of  intention  to  return  to  a  web  site  and  purchase   intention  [Koufaris  2002;  Li  and  Zhang  2002].    To  a  very  large  degree,  online   consumer  behaviour  can  be  studied  using  basis  from  offline  or  tradition  consumer   behaviour.  There  are  a  number  of  general  frameworks  in  consumer  behaviour   that   capture   the   decision-­‐making   processes   of   consumers   [Engel   et   al.,   1995,   Schiffman  &  Kanuk,  2000].  These  Frameworks  distinguish  a  number  of  stages   typically   including   four   sequences:   need   recognition,   information   search,   evaluation  of  alternatives  and  the  actual  purchases.  [O’Keef  &  McEachern,  1998]   had   argued   that  these   stages   are   relatively   abstract   and   do   not   consider   the   medium  through  which  the  consumer  buys.       A  key  difference  between  online  and  offline  or  tradition  consumer  behaviour  is   that  online  consumers  have  to  interact  with  technology  to  purchase  the  goods  and   services  they  need.  The  physical  shop  environment  is  replaced  by  an  electronic   shopping   environment   or   by   an   information   system   (IS).   This   gives   rise   to   technical  issues  that  have  traditionally  been  the  area  of  information  system  and   human  computer  interaction  (HCI)  researchers  [O’Keefe  et  al.,  2000].       Past  research  examining  online  purchase  behaviour  has  approached  the  problem   from  several  various  perspectives.  Drawing  from  technology  acceptance  theories,   some  researchers  have  focused  on  using  individual  beliefs  such  as  usefulness  and   ease  of  predicting  the  extent  to  which  consumers  will  buy  online  [Chen,  Gillenson,   &  Sherell,  2002].      Others  have  posited  and  empirically  confirmed  that  consumer   attitudes  towards  online  shopping  and  intention  to  buy  online  are  influenced  by   product  perceptions,  the  attributes  of  the  shopping  experience,  customer  service,   and  consumer  risk  [Jarvenpaa  &  Todd,  1996-­‐1997].  Furthermore,  the  effects  of   various   demographics   such   as   income,   educational   level,   Internet   use,   and   Internet   search,   and   perceptions   of   web   vendor’s   sales   processes   on   retail   purchasing  behaviour  have  been  studied  [Burroughs  &  Sabherwal,  2002].       Given  these  differences,  research  in  online  consumer  behaviour  can  benefit  from   models   and   theories   that   have   been   developed   in   field   of   Human   Computer   Interaction.   To   further   understand   of   online   store   use   and   online   purchase   behaviour,  I  will  examine  the  contribution  of  important  theories  in  more  detail  in   the  following  sections.           9 2.2  Information-­‐Foraging  Theory       An   important   stage   in   the   decision-­‐making   process   is   information   search   or   information  seeking  and  one  part  of  theory  that  addresses  information-­‐seeking   behaviour  by  individuals  is  information  foraging  theory.  Information  foraging   theory   is   being   developed   in   order   to   understand   and   improve   human-­‐ information  interaction.  The  framework  assumes  that  humans  adapt  to  the  world   by  seeking  and  using  information.    Information-­‐seeking  behaviour  by  consumers   is  characterised  by  a  trade–off,  between  the  cost  of  searching  and  evaluating  more   alternative  products  and  the  benefit  of  a  better  decision  when  more  alternatives   are  taken  into  account  [Hauser  &  Trifts,  2000].       Today   most   tasks   on   the   web   include   information   seeking,   not   just   textual   information  but  also  graphical  information.  By  understanding  how  our  visual   attention  and  pattern  perception  work  we  can  begin  to  develop  graphical  design   that  will  help  the  consumers  to  make  a  better  decision  when  more  alternatives   are  presented  to  them.  To  achieve  this  goal  it  is  important  to  understand  the   sense  of  visual  thinking.  According  to  [Ware,  2008]  “Visual  thinking  consist  of  a   series  of  acts  of  attention,  driving  eye  movements  and  tuning  our  pattern-­‐finding   circuits”  These  acts  of  attention  are  called  visual  queries,  and  understanding  how   visual  queries  work  can  make  us  better  designers.  When  we  interact  with  an   information  display,  such  as  diagram,  icons,  graph,  or  poster  on  the  wall,  we  are   usually  trying  to  solve  some  kind  of  cognitive  problem.  In  our  case  it  is  about   finding  an  appropriate  app  on  the  App  Store  by  looking  at  the  different  icons.       Figure  2.2  below  is  an  application  buyer’s  decision  progression  in  the  iTunes  App   Store.  The  diagram  is  taken  from  [Hughes,  2010]  it  shows  that  the  process  starts   with  the  visual  and  then  goes  to  the  textual  part.  According  to  [Hughes,  2010]   most  visitors  on  the  iTunes  App  Store  are  first  attracted  to  colourful  icons.                                     Figure  2.2  The  decision  process  of  a  visitor  on  the  App  Store  [Hughes,  2010]         10