Yep, you read that right. Today W3i is announcing Apperang, a new service that will pay users to download mobile applications.
Apperang builds on the pay-per-acquisition model that we’ve seen succeed with companies like TapJoy. As opposed to pay-per-click, pay-per-acquisition (or pay-per-action) means that the developer only pays if the desired action occurs. In this case, developers pay only when the user downloads the app.
Hit the jump to find out how Apperang works.
It’s pretty simple: go to Apperang.com and select which application you want to download. If you download a free app, you are given a small credit to your Apperang account ($0.25 at launch). If you download a paid app, you get the price of the app plus a bit of change (so, for a $3.99 app, you get $3.99+$0.25=$4.24).
Apperang is a steal for developers who are used to paying upwards of a few dollars per download via pay-per-click advertising services like AdMob. On top of that, the user benefits because they get paid for downloading an application.
[Updated based on comment from Apperang] To ensure that you actually download the app, Apperang checks your iTunes desktop app to see if you’ve purchased/downloaded the app. Once the download is verified, the user is credited with the payout in their Apperang account. The only catch is that the user must have over $1 in their Apperang account to take the money in their bank account.
Apperang launches today with 15 developers signed up. Notable apps include Booyah’s MyTown, Flixter’s Movies app, and Slacker Radio.
One downside is that users may download the app solely for the cash and then throw it out afterwards. In response to that concern, CEO Andy Johnson noted that it’s up to the developers to make their apps interesting enough. Furthermore, they’ve managed to make a similar model with web/desktop apps into a multi-million dollar business with W3i – why not do it with mobile as well?
It’s fascinating to see the rise of pay-per-action markets in the face of more traditional advertising markets. So far, it seems like both are continuing to thrive. TapJoy founder Lee Lidnen told me they are doing “several hundred thousand app installs per day” at $.35 an install. My recent conversations with Mobclix and AdMob indicate they aren’t slowing down either. What do you think? Do traditional advertising models get the squeeze in favor of pay-per-action options like Apperang and TapJoy?