Recent statistics show that free applications account for more than 89% of the number of downloads, and recently began noticing a large trend to design free applications in the store. So why are free applications popular despite the high cost of design and implementation? Are these free apps really free, or are their owners making a profit out of it?

The most popular form of profit from free apps is "in-app purchase"; Where a study revealed last March that 76% of the revenue from applications in the App Store comes from in-app purchases, which prompted Apple to allocate the "Top Grossing" section, which includes the highest revenue applications, as we explained in Previous article. But some people notice that there are high-level applications and are also free, and there are no ads or in-app purchases, so how do these applications live?

Direct financing

Have you ever thought about how to finance the "Firefox" application in different devices? Or Dolphin, Opera and other browsers that come for free, and despite that their companies are seeking to permanently develop them and make them better and faster?

The secret is that it gets funding from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and others in exchange for integrating its search engine into the program, for example, Google pays Mozilla $ 300 million annually in exchange for making it the official engine in the application, so Google wants all the searches from all browsers to have more profit. In other words, the source is direct and apparent funding from a party such as Google and its search engine. But how do Google, and its free apps and services, earn? Information.

User data is an input source

Every day we use Google Browser, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, and dozens of services provided by the search engine, but most of us have not thought about how Google profits, and some say that it is from ads, and this is true; Most of Google's income is from ads, but in order for the advertiser to submit advertising with Google, he must know that he will get the best return from it, so Google seeks to benefit from tons of personal data, as it knows what to look for in its engine, what sites you visit, and what your current site is And the roads and places that you search for in their maps, the videos that you are interested in watching on YouTube, your registered numbers ... and other data through which you can provide the best and most appropriate ads that achieve the largest return for the advertiser. Most of us mention Threat of the European Commission Google must disclose what data it takes from user devices, what it uses, does it share with others, and others. as such A US court ruled on Google Fine for snooping on the safety profile of the Safari browser and monitoring the user. Even Microsoft presented a satirical video last year about Gmail and that it was snooping on messages. So Google doesn't want to make you pay for its services, it just wants you to use it to learn more about you.

It's not just Google, of course, but even Apple issued a court ruling against it Last week, a German court demanded that it inform the user accurately about the data taken, and not sell this data to other companies. Also, sites such as Facebook and others apply the same concept by collecting data about the user and then exploiting it.

Fame goal

The company bears the costs of a good free application and the goal is to spread the application and make publicity for the company, and when another application is issued for it, it is not free, it spreads globally because everyone says “We tried the company's free apps and they were great, of course their paid app will be as well“And we often find applications mentioned in their description in the software store.”An application from the company that owns the Qasah app, which has achieved first place in 50 countries“. That is, the company bears the losses and puts them in the advertising clause.

And it may happen, as we have seen dozens of times, that the application's popularity will increase until a giant company acquires it for tens or even hundreds of millions.

Military support

This is another type of data use, as the purpose of the application is to collect information, but it will not be used in advertising or advertisements as Google does, but it goes for military purposes, and of course this type of application remains a matter of debate about its truth. The most famous of these applications is Viber, which provides a great and high-quality communication service, works on all operating systems, whether computer or phone, and does not offer the ability to purchase calls such as Skype and Fring, meaning that it is completely free. Viber is based in Cyprus but management and service offices are located in Tel AvivThe founder of the company served for 4 years in the Israeli army, and this may explain why the company's services are free of charge and of high quality; As their official website indicates that the application is free and will not be paid for, and the application will not contain ads, and no fees will be paid for the calls .. In the end it is mentioned that the quality they have has become better than direct contact in addition to it is free, so does this raise doubts about military financing ?

Indirect profit

Another type of in-app purchase, but it differs in that it is not compulsory, the usual in buying from within the tolerance is that you get an incomplete and experimental service, and if you want a full service you have to pay, but some companies take another approach by providing a free service and aiming to make the user get used to it And he uses it on a daily basis, and because the nature of human needs is increasing, after a while the user will find that the company's service is not enough for him and he wants to get more, this more is in return, and this matter is spread in cloud services such as Dropbox and others, so with the frequent use of these services, you will find the space is insufficient and you want to buy More.

Advertising applications

It is for a party or an international organization such as UNESCO and others to pay the cost of the application to the developer in exchange for making it free, and this matter is spread in educational or charitable applications or those that carry a message and targeted goals where the entity - which bears the price of the application - aims to spread the thought or message more than Interest in money.

Conclusion:

There is no person, entity or company that does not aim for profit, so the application is either paid or contains ads or purchases from within it, or there is a party that paid for it or collects information through it to profit from it, and dozens of other ways. But the bottom line is that whoever designed the application wants to benefit from it.

If you do not pay for the commodity, make sure that you are the commodity

Do you think that companies and entities have the right to offer applications for free in exchange for selling user data and interests? Do you think that there is an application that is completely free and its makers do not seek to profit? Share your opinion

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