March metrics from Distimo, the app analytics company, confirm that content for the iPad costs a bit more than content for the iPhone. Distimo found that of the current 2,385 applications available exclusively for the iPad, 833 of those titles, or 35 percent, are games, followed by entertainment and education apps, with 260 and 205 titles, respectively.
Nevertheless, games and entertainment applications are more popular on the iPhone than on the iPad: 70 percent of the most popular applications on the iPhone are published in either one of those categories, compared with 40 percent on the iPad.
Fully 83 percent of applications on the iPad are paid, while only 73 percent of all applications are paid on the iPhone. The average price of all paid applications that are solely compatible with iPad is $3.61 compared with $3.55 for applications compatible with iPhone.
The top downloaded paid app for the iPad was Apple's Pages, which features Word processing and office-related software. The top free download on the iPad is iBooks, Apple's proprietary answer to Amazon.com's Kindle Store.
Distimo found that education, healthcare & fitness, music and sports applications are significantly more expensive on average on the iPad than on the iPhone. Books are currently cheaper on the iPad than on the iPhone, which may be influenced by the iBookstore availability on the iPad.