I was reading the latest Distimo report (found via VentureBeat) and they have some interesting findings which impact software developers. The key thing is that this is measured data – it isn’t guesswork about  -it is raw fun loving data.
– In the Google Android Market, 65% of the publishers are located in the United States, 12% in the United Kingdom, 20% in Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) and 3% in Japan.
– Publishers located in Europe price their applications highest with an average of $4.42, which is 49% higher than publishers located in the United States. The United Kingdom comes second with an average of $3.31.
– Applications in Apple App Store, Google Android Market and Nokia Ovi Store are priced at around $3.50. Windows Marketplace for Mobile and BlackBerry App World are more expensive, averaging $6.99 and $8.26 respectively.
– Because of Microsoft’s market validation guidelines and additional fees for distributing applications in more than one country, the number of applications available in some countries is only a small percentage (<5%) of applications available worldwide.
In Google Android Market, application prices are denoted in the publisher’s home
currency. This information was used to analyze where the publishers that distribute
paid applications are located. The high percentage of publishers located in the United
States (65%) and the United Kingdom (12%) may be caused by, among other factors,
the fact that support for paid applications was available in these countries first. The
Euro zone (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) accounts for 20%
of the publishers and Japan for 3%.
The average price of all paid applications in each store is displayed above (United
States). Applications in Apple App Store, Google Android Market and Nokia Ovi Store
are priced at around $3.50. Windows Marketplace for Mobile and BlackBerry App
World are more expensive, averaging $6.99 and $8.26 respectively.
Please note that prices may be influenced by the store’s policies which may restrict
publishers in choosing their price points, such as Research In Motion’s policy to
charge at least $2.99 for applications.
Windows Marketplace for Mobile has market validation guidelines to make sure that
descriptions and text used within applications meet the language requirements of
specific countries and application types prohibited within certain countries will not
be presented in the catalog for that country. Additionally, the costs for the validation
process are covered by the application certification fee only for the first market. This
policy has a significant effect on the number of applications present in each country.
Worldwide, there are 812 applications available, of which 639 are available in the US
and 264 in the United Kingdom. Australia and Canada have about a quarter of the
applications available worldwide.