Chrome OS Site

We’ve heard a lot of reports about the launch of the Apple App Store and it’s perceived success but we haven’t heard as much about Google’s Web Store. Well, with the help of Chrome OS Apps we are able to bring you an in-depth look at how the Chrome Web Store has faired so far. All of the data within this article was gathered using special APi’s that hook straight into the Chrome Web Store.

“Facts are stubborn things”

Around Google Chrome Circles the success of the Google Chrome Web Store is bantered about quite vigorously.  A variety of opinions exist on this issue:

• “Sales Are At A Trickle On Google’s Chrome Web Store” – Techcrunch
• “Google’s Chrome Web Store flopping” – MacGasm
• “Chrome Web Store {has}… experienced moderate success.” – Digital Trends

Facts are stubborn things.  In this article we’ll show you the real facts about the Google Web Store which will hopefully debunk all of the previous claims that it hasn’t done so well. Here’s how we plan to go about this:

1. Present data that reveals 70% Chrome Web Store App User growth since 2/4/10,
2. Reveal the hottest app category during this period,
3. List the top apps that lead the charge with outstanding user growth.

The facts:

• From 1/15 to 2/3 the app store user base grew 17% (4,085,282 to 4,782,769).
• From 2/4 to 2/23 the growth rate exploded to 70% (4,872,086 to 8,302,294).

A reminder – one Chrome User may use several apps. In this case, the Chrome User counts as an app user for each app used. For example, One Chrome User has three apps. This user counts as a user of three apps. The three apps are what counts here.

Drill Down: Category Growth?

Categories are examined to find if growth was universal or if growth favored any particular category of app (category as defined by Google).

As expected, all categories fared well during the 2/4 to 2/23 period.  Exceptional performance occurred in the Games Category.  The category started off with 512,696 users and grew to 1,264,399 users. The Entertainment, Education and Lifestyle category apps also performed well.

Drill Down: Applications

To uncover the fastest growing apps, all apps were rank ordered, based on user base size, on 2/3.  Apps were then rank ordered on 2/23.  Only apps with user bases of greater then 10,000 users were examined. The top 40 apps that increased user base ranking are listed. Essentially, these are the hottest apps during the period examined.

The above list represents the top performers during a very hot period of time for the Google Chrome Web Store. EasyClock did not exist on 2/3, but ranked 71 relative to all apps in user base size.  Midas Mahjong ranked 2,091 on 2/3, 153 on 2/23.

Summary

• The Chrome Web Store app user base grew to 8,302,294 users as of 2/23.  Since 2/3 this represents growth of 70%

• While all categories where graced with growth, Games, Entertainment, Education and Lifestyle categories excelled in that order.

• The apps that lead growth have been listed for review.