Influence of Opinion Leaders on Purchase Intention Using Social Network Analysis: The Case of Paid Mobile Apps

2.1. Paid Mobile Apps

Having become ubiquitous in recent years, mobile applications are basically small, self-contained programs, used to enhance existing functionality of personal computers, smartphones and tablets, ideally in a simple, more user-friendly manner (Cutlack, 2013). Apps can be free or paid, and paid apps fall into one of two main categories. The first is normal paid mobile apps, which have a marked price on Google Play or Apple iTune app stores. Here, users pay before being able to download the application. The second type is called “freemium applications.” With freemium a combination of the words “free” and “premium”, consumers can initially download the application at no cost. The application then provides an option allowing consumers to pay for a better experience; choosing not to pay the extra cost does not affect the basic features of application usage. This system is mainly used for mobile games such as Candy Crush Saga, Line Series, and Tower of Saviors (Lim, 2012; Nations, 2013).