Research2Guidance has an interesting post breaking down the share of apps removed from app stores. In the case of Android 37% of apps have been deactivated since launch of the Android Market.

 

This got me questioning why developers might have removed their apps. Here are the main reasons why I think so many apps have been removed, some of which are not mutually exclusive… 

1. To erase feedback after things have been fixed or significantly improved, usually after a major upgrade.
2. It’s impossible to go from free to paid. Again, a major upgrade causing it no longer to be free might trigger removal of an app.
3. The author, especially of a free app of which there are so many on Android, didn’t realise the effort needed to support users and pulled the app.
4. The app depended on a ‘free’ 3rd party server/data resources that no longer exists or resource quotas that were exceeded.
5. The author of an app didn’t make money (or advertising revenue) they thought it would.
6. The availability of new phones broke the app and the effort to update it just wasn’t worth it, especially for a free app.
7. The app was only released for a short time to test ideas and markets.
8. The app was only released for a particular time sensitive event.

From personal experience, I think the main reason might be #6. I think the predominantly ‘free’ model hasn’t provided any incentive for developers to maintain their applications.