Application monetization based on application and lifestyle fingerprinting

• US 10,269,029 B1
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Evans, Ethan Zane, Markley, David Allen, Roque, Miguel Azancot
• Primary Examiner(s): Padot, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US13/926,656
• Time in Patent Office: 2,128 Days
• Field of Search: 705 729
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for application monetization based on application fingerprinting and lifestyle fingerprinting. Application fingerprints are determined for multiple applications. A respective application fingerprint is generated based at least in part on a static analysis, a dynamic analysis, and a behavioral analysis, and is indicative of one or more features of an application. Lifestyle fingerprints are determined for multiple users. A respective lifestyle fingerprint is indicative of one or more preferences of a user. An action is implemented to market a selected application based at least in part on a correlation between the lifestyle fingerprints and a set of application fingerprints that are determined to be similar to the application fingerprint of the selected application.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, wherein when executed the program causes the at least one computing device to at least:

determine a plurality of application fingerprints, a respective one of the application fingerprints being associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of applications, the respective one of the application fingerprints comprising a plurality of application characteristics being generated based at least in part on a static analysis, a dynamic analysis, and a behavioral analysis of the corresponding one of the plurality of applications, the behavior analysis being based at least in part on data indicating a measure of time spent browsing an application marketplace before the corresponding one of the plurality of applications is downloaded;

receive a selection of a particular one of the plurality of applications;

identify a subset of the plurality of applications having at least one application characteristic in common with the particular one of the plurality of applications based at least in part on the plurality of application fingerprints;

receive an identification of a particular user;

determine a plurality of users having at least one user characteristic in common with the particular user based at least in part on user lifestyle fingerprint data;

generate a recommended application modification that modifies the particular one of the plurality of applications to include a particular application characteristic comprising a change from a first pricing model of a set of pricing models to a second pricing model of the set of pricing models, based at least in part on the user lifestyle fingerprint data associated with usage of the subset of the plurality of applications by the plurality of users and corresponding application fingerprints of the subset of the applications, wherein the set of pricing models comprises a purchase pricing model, a freemium model, a pay-per-use pricing model, and a pay-for-time pricing model;

automatically configure an instance of the particular one of the plurality of applications that is installed on a client device to implement the change from the first pricing model of the set of pricing models to the second pricing model of the set of pricing models; and

automatically modify the application marketplace to display, for the particular user, an offering of a version of the particular one of the plurality of applications that implements the second pricing model.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein when executed the program further causes the at least one computing device to offer a version of the particular one of the applications that has the particular application characteristic to the particular user in an application marketplace.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular application characteristic comprises a trial time period.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular application characteristic is determined based at least in part on the subset of the plurality of applications having at least one application characteristic in common with the particular one of the plurality of applications.

5. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

at least one service executable in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed, the at least one service causes the at least one computing device to at least;

determine an application fingerprint for each of a plurality of applications, a respective application fingerprint being generated based at least in part on a static analysis, a dynamic analysis, and a behavioral analysis of a corresponding one of a plurality of applications, and being indicative of one or more application characteristics, wherein the behavior analysis is based at least in part on data indicating a measure of time spent browsing an application marketplace before the corresponding one of the plurality of applications is downloaded;

determine a plurality of lifestyle fingerprints for a corresponding plurality of users, a respective lifestyle fingerprint being indicative of one or more user characteristics, the one or more user characteristics comprising a preferred pricing model;

receive a selection of a particular one of the plurality of applications;

identify a subset of the plurality of applications having at least one application characteristic in common with the particular one of the plurality of applications based at least in part on a corresponding plurality of application fingerprints;

receive an identification of a particular user;

determine a plurality of users having at least one user characteristic in common with the particular user based at least in part on lifestyle fingerprint data;

generate a recommended modification of the particular one of the applications in an application marketplace to a particular application characteristic comprising a change from a first pricing model of a set of pricing models to a second pricing model of the set of pricing models based at least in part on a correlation between the lifestyle fingerprints and a set of application fingerprints that are determined to have at least one application characteristic in common with the respective application fingerprint of the particular one of the plurality of applications, the correlation indicating a preference for the second pricing model, wherein the set of pricing models comprises a purchase pricing model, a freemium model, a pay-per-use pricing model, and a pay-for-time pricing model;

automatically configure an instance of the particular one of the plurality of applications installed on a client device to implement the change from the first pricing model of the set of pricing models to the second pricing model of the set of pricing models; and

automatically modify the application marketplace to include an offering of a version of the particular one of the plurality of applications that implements the second pricing model.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least send the recommended modification to a computing device associated with a developer of the selected one of the plurality of applications.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least implement the recommended modification by modifying the offering of the selected one of the plurality of applications in the application marketplace.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least identify an underserved geography for the selected one of the plurality of applications based at least in part on the correlation.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least generate a recommendation for a trial time period.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the second pricing model comprises at least one of:

the freemium model, the pay-per-use pricing model, or the pay-for-time pricing model.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least generate an application modification for the selected one of the plurality of applications to include a particular application characteristic determined from another correlation between the lifestyle fingerprints and the set of application fingerprints that are determined to have at least one application characteristic in common with the respective application fingerprint of the selected one of the plurality of applications, the other correlation indicating a preference for the particular application characteristic.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

receive a target user characteristic; and

identify a subset of the lifestyle fingerprints meeting the target user characteristic.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the target user characteristic corresponds to a user willingness to pay a threshold application price.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one user characteristic comprises a willingness to initiate a purchase transaction during application use in response to an analysis that determines that a corresponding one of the plurality of users frequently taps a touchscreen.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein when executed the at least one service further causes the at least one computing device to at least determine the target user characteristic based at least in part on a characteristic associated with the particular user.

16. The system of claim 5, wherein the respective application fingerprint includes information indicative of a set of code fragments employed by a corresponding application of the plurality of applications and a set of device resources employed by the corresponding application.

17. A method, comprising:

determining, by a computing device, an application fingerprint for each of a plurality of applications, a respective application fingerprint being generated based at least in part on a static analysis comprising analyzing code fragments of a corresponding one of the plurality of applications, a dynamic analysis comprising executing the corresponding one of the plurality of applications in a hosted environment, and a behavioral analysis of the corresponding one of the plurality of applications, and being indicative of one or more application characteristics, wherein the behavior analysis is based at least in part on data indicating a measure of time spent browsing an application marketplace before the corresponding one of the plurality of applications is downloaded;

determining, by the computing device, a respective lifestyle fingerprint of a plurality of lifestyle fingerprints for a plurality of users, the respective lifestyle fingerprint being indicative of one or more user characteristics, wherein lifestyle fingerprint data comprises the plurality of lifestyle fingerprints;

receiving, by the computing device, a selection of a particular one of the plurality of applications;

identifying, by the computing device, a subset of the plurality of applications having at least one application characteristic in common with the particular one of the plurality of applications based at least in part on the plurality of application fingerprints;

receiving, by the computing device, an identification of a particular user;

determining, by the computing device, a plurality of users having at least one user characteristic in common with the particular user based at least in part on lifestyle fingerprint data; and

automatically configuring, by the computing device, an instance of the particular one of the applications that is installed on a client device to implement a recommendation for a particular application characteristic comprising a change from a first pricing model of a set of pricing models to a second pricing model of the set of pricing models, wherein the set of pricing models comprises a purchase pricing model, a freemium model, a pay-per-use pricing model, and a pay-for-time pricing model, the recommendation being generated based at least in part on a correlation between the lifestyle fingerprints associated with usage of the subset of the plurality of applications and the subset of the application fingerprints that are determined to have at least one application characteristic in common with the respective application fingerprint of the particular one of the plurality of applications.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising configuring the instance of the particular one of the applications to extend a trial period, provide an in-application item, or provide an application upgrade.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying, by the computing device, an underserved geography for the selected one of the plurality of applications based at least in part on the lifestyle fingerprint data correlated with a particular set of the application fingerprints.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the behavioral analysis further indicates an average duration of time of a usage session for the corresponding one of the plurality of applications.