They agree on free: US and UK kids’ app choices

American kids and their UK counterparts are showing the same predilection for free educational iPad apps, but when it comes to dishing out dollars for paid apps their tastes seemingly differ. And according to research revealed today from Gartner, free apps have never been more important.

September 19, 2013

American kids and their counterparts across the pond in the UK are showing the same predilection for free educational iPad apps, but when it comes to dishing out dollars for paid apps their tastes seemingly differ. That’s according to up-to-the-minute stats from data aggregator App Annie, which shows how mobile games are performing on varying platforms and in different countries. The data reveals that the top three free iPad apps in the UK and the US are mirrored, and while the number one paid educational iPad app (Toca Cars) is the same in both countries, the rest of the lists are impacted by respective localized children’s properties. (Toca Cars, for its part, is currently the top paid educational iPad app across Australia, France, Canada, The Netherlands, Sweden, Russia and Singapore.)

And with research firm Gartner today predicting that the total number of app downloads in 2013 will surpass 100 billion, and free apps will account for a whopping 91% of these downloads, it’s never been more important to focus on this segment.