No abstract

Mobile applications are significantly impacting people's smart phone using behavior and mobile industry value chain. By examining sources of data on mobile applications use, this study presents evidence about what factors would affect the amount of apps download, which may be useful to guide app designers and publishers to develop more persuasive new apps and marketing strategies. The results indicated app ranking had effect on download amount of apps in both Android app market and Apple app store, while prices of apps had no impact on the amount of download. App type, developer experience, and locality had effect on the amount of download only for paid apps in Apple app store.

This study selected car-related mobile apps for app developers suffering from low revenue and classified car apps assisting users in driving or managing a car. A total of 697 car apps were classified into eight categories. Most apps are in four categories: car news & information (28%), locating service (23%), car rental service (15%), safe/efficient driving service (12%). The remaining categories are buying & selling, driver's communication, maintenance management, and expenses monitoring. Many apps are simple and too similar in their main functions. Only a few apps are designed to be more comprehensive and have functions in two or more categories. For the practicality of the categorization scheme, this study checked the inter-rater reliability in two tests and got 0.886 and 0.828. The result from this study suggests functions that are not implemented yet or need to be combined. Future research will focus on identifying promising car apps or designing multi-functional car apps. Key Words :