How app update affects app download in iOS appstore

Mobile stores (appstores) are emerging digital distribution platforms with explosive growth, in which the mobile applications (apps) are directly published by the app developers and downloaded by the end users. Appstores attract a lot attention of academia, there are increasingly studies on many aspects of appstores, especially update or release strategy of apps. In this paper, we measured a third-party appstore and introduced a metric, named “Pulling Rate” to quantify the effect of update events on downloads through case study. The results showed that in the first ten days after update, downloads will increase about three times about average downloads. However, after about 45 days after update event, the effect of update event on downloads will exists no more. These results are useful for app developers to help with determining their release strategies.