I’ve been puzzling over the number of new users I’m seeing over the last few days. Some if it can be attributed to the Kindle Fire, but that still leaves a lot of unexplained new users. I’ve checked my stats across the various Android marketplaces, and they are all up.
Well, it looks like the answer might just be “It’s Christmas”. According to this article on TechCrunch, there were 6.8 million new Android and iOS device activations on Christmas day. 242 million apps were downloaded. They cite a post on Flurry’s blog, which has more detailed data.
And that’s probably the real explanation for what I’ve been seeing. Android phones and tablets given as Christmas presents all over the world, with users spread out across the various marketplaces that I have my games listed on. That would explain why I can’t find any specific trends in the new users, whether geographical, or marketplace-related.
I’m curious to know if other developers have seen similar end-of-December shifts in their stats. If you have some data to share, I’d love to see it.
Merry Christmas! 
I’m seeing a similar increase in downloads for my webOS paid apps starting exactly on the 25th and without any ramping up the days before. And after three days my download counts are almost back to their usual levels. I don’t think I can attribute the increase to new users in my case, since I doubt there are too many webOS devices changing hands. I think it is because people have a lot of free time. Those that never buy or download apps found themselves bored enough to start, and those that do are spending more time browsing than they usually do, so they find stuff they never saw before. Happy Holidays, and let’s hope for another peak on New Year’s!
Well, that’s certainly a possibility. Agreed, hope this trend repeats itself for New Year’s