Photo app developers are not seizing the opportunity for tablet-optimized photo apps, study finds

GaryPageau
A well-known brand doesn't mean an app is successful, as comments on Instagram show.
A well-known brand doesn’t mean an app is successful, as comments on Instagram show.

Only 26 percent of the top 50 paid and free downloaded photo apps downloaded on iPad are optimized for iPad; 74 percent are generic iOS apps, according to the Tablet Photo App Opportunity Report, a new study by Suite 48 Analytics. These generic photo apps miss out on the opportunity to attract more tablet users through an optimized user interface or features that specifically match these tablet users’ needs, according to the study.

Tablet users not only have different demographics compared to smartphone users, their shopping behavior and photo product purchasing behavior are also different. Compared to smartphone users, tablet users tend to be older, more likely to have children, and more often have a history of ordering photo output products, such as photo prints, photobooks or photo merchandise.

If they do create and order photo products with their mobile device photos, 25 percent do so directly on their tablet rather than transferring the photos first to a website, a computer or a kiosk so that they can use a larger screen device; only 9 percent of the smartphone photos order photo products directly from their phone.

The market opportunity for new photo apps optimized for tablets is still wide open, according to Hans Hartman, Suite 48 Analytics president and lead author of the report: “At this point, few of the top-ranking iPad-optimized photo apps get great reviews, with the exception of the recently released Camera+ for iPad app. These apps lead the download and sales ranks, but for some this seems to be more of a result of piggybacking on their company’s existing brand or that of others, such as Instagram’s. Over time I expect that higher reviewed apps will dominate the charts.”

The report also contains an in-depth analysis of user review comments on the top two downloaded free and paid photo apps specifically designed for iPad: InstaPad – Instagram Gallery for iPad, Shutterfly for iPad, Adobe Photoshop Touch and Camera+ for iPad.

The Tablet Photo App Opportunity Report is a roundup of industry research findings about the overall tablet market, tablet usage, and demographics of tablet users, combined with Suite 48 Analytics research about the iPad photo apps market and photo app user survey findings. The $149 report has 39-pages, including four tables and 24 graphs. It can be purchased at: suite48a.com/Tablets.html. Purchasers of the report will get the $149 reimbursed if buying the Photo Product Purchasing Survey among Mobile Photo App Users or the Photo/Video Apps Market Analysis January Report by April 15, 2013.