• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 1, 2013

The cost of acquiring a loyal app user continued to climb in August, hitting a record high of $1.90, according to the latest data from app marketing platform Fiksu. That level was up from $1.80 the prior month and $1.50 in June.

Fiksu attributed the spiraling cost to two main factors: big brands spending ever-growing amounts to market their apps on Facebook and elsewhere, and marketers getting a jump on holiday planning. “Many are applying their Q3 budgets to test different mobile marketing strategies before the big rush in Q4 when costs will likely rise further, as seen in previous years,” stated a company blog post on Tuesday.

Fiksu also reported that downloads of free iPhone apps in August increased slightly to 5.9 million from 5.8 million in July. But that total is up 46% from the year-earlier period.