I think the point is that the application has been downloaded that many times. No where does it say they've gained 1 million new listeners, the point is that over a 1 million people regardless of what they thought they would get or wouldn't get decided they would download this application. To read anything more than that into it is just making a lot of assumptions. I for one could care less that Howard is not on this application! I have used it a great deal since downloading it and in fact find myself listening to SiriusXM much more now than before. I plan to keep it on my iPhone and I have a feeling I am not alone in that.
How many downloaded it and then got all pissed because Howard was not on there and deleted is irrelevant to this number being reported.
I doubt there will ever be any specific data in regards to how many uninstall or continue to use the application.
I've downloaded many applications and found that they were junk or I didn't like them for this reason or that one, so I uninstalled them. But my download still counted towards the max number of downloads. So, what is the big deal?
it leads to a false sense of quality. just because something is popular, doesn't mean its better, which is something you can say about a lot of things. i do not for one second believe that just because over a million people downloaded an app, it must be the greatest app ever. its a bullshit argument, and i think that you can see where i'm coming from on this. the same standard can be applied to anything in the app store from apps to music to podcasts. popular does not mean better.
i know there will be a lot of people who point to ratings and these are the people who actually look at stuff before they get something, but then again, when you have a number like 1,000,000+ downloads combined with the weight of an app store ad and full color ads in national papers like usa today versus what this app is rated (i'm going to arbitrarily use 2.5, i don't know what it is) and the comments on the app, which do you think the average person is going to give more weight to their decision?
one million downloads means nothing. this only means that one million people have a limited time opportunity to listen to sirixm programming before the trial runs out. if a large majority of those people, like 80% discontinue using the app for whatever reason (its no longer new and not used, don't want to subscribe, deleted for whatever reason, etc.) i believe you can genuinely call the app a failure. you aren't making any money from the free trial if no one subscribes because of it. retentions is the more important and unreported number here- sirixm only makes money if people continue to use this app. if people are bailing at the end of the free trial, yes the download number went up but it does not show the true usage numbers which is far more important. if i were a stockholder, that would be the first thing i would ask, how many people are still using the iphone app after the 7 day free trial?
unlike any of the other apps that are free to download, this has money tied to it. and unlike any of the pay-for apps in the app store they don't have your money right away. its a bad situation sirixm put themselves in.