The differential effects of developers’ app store strategy on the performance of niche and popular mobile apps

This study investigates whether mobile app developers need to adjust their app store strategy depending on the popularity of their mobile apps. The study draws on the long tail perspective to differentiate between niche and popular mobile apps and considers app updating frequency, revenue model, user value of mobile apps, and optimization of the mobile app content as influential elements of app store strategy. It proposes a model linking developers’ app store strategy to mobile app performance, measured through user rating data, with mobile app popularity acting as a moderator. To test its hypotheses, the study estimates a regression model with interaction effects on a dataset of mobile apps from Apple’s App Store (N = 5765). The findings reveal that, relative to popular mobile apps, niche mobile apps need to be managed more proactively through more frequent updates and efficacious optimization of the mobile app content. The findings also show that offering mobile apps in hedonic categories complements a niche positioning strategy. The study contributes a novel insight by documenting how mobile app popularity interacts with app store strategy in determining mobile app performance.