Feature lifecycles as they spread, migrate, remain, and die in App Stores

We introduce a theoretical characterisation of feature lifecycles in app stores, to help app developers to identify trends and to find undiscovered requirements. To illustrate and motivate app feature lifecycle analysis, we use our theory to empirically analyse the migratory and non-migratory behaviours of 4,053 non-free features from two App Stores (Samsung and BlackBerry). The results reveal that, in both stores, intransitive features (those that neither migrate nor die out) exhibit significantly different behaviours with regard to important properties, such as their price. Further correlation analysis also highlights differences between trends relating price, rating, and popularity. Our results indicate that feature lifecycle analysis can yield insights that may also help developers to understand feature behaviours and attribute relationships.