Despite concerns over a slumpin smartphone sales, mobile analytics company, App Annie, have revealed intheir annual Stateof Mobile 2019 report, that app downloads increased in 2018 by 35 percenton the previous year to 194 billion. In even more positive news, consumerspending on apps increased by a staggering 75 percent to $101 billion.
Much of this increase can be attributed tothe Chinese market which accounted for nearly 50 percent of global downloadsand almost 40 percent of consumer spending.
While Chinese consumer spending increasedby 140 percent on the previous year, growth in more mature markets includingthe United States (70 percent), SouthKorea (80 percent) and the United Kingdom (55 percent) also saw incrediblegrowth.
ExceedingExpectations
This incredible growth has taken theindustry by surprise with earlier predictions suggesting downloads would reachlevels around the 113 billion mark with revenues of $76 billion.
It’s also worth noting these figures wereable to reach record levels despite a nine-monthfreeze in game license approvals in China which are legally required in thecountry for developers to monetize their apps.
GlobalApp Usage
Although Chinese smartphone users top thelist of prolific app downloaders and spenders, they trail behind many othernations in terms of the number of apps installed on their devices.
The average Chinese consumer's smartphonehas just over 50 apps installed (of which approximately 30 are used). Thiscompares to more than 100 in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Thesefigures are largely attributed to the high number of low-cost Android deviceswith limited storage in use in the Chinese (and other emerging) markets.
IndianGrowth – Focused on Free Android Apps
App usage is also dramatically on theincrease across other emerging economies. While App Annie’s report focuses onboth the Android and iOS app marketplaces, it clearly highlights Android’sdominance in huge markets like India.
Indian’s downloaded more Android apps fromGoogle Play than smartphone users from any other nation. Free downloadscurrently dominate the Indian market, with social media, communications,entertainment and photography apps most popular.
While consumer spending on apps in theIndian market is low, the report highlights that the country is stilltransitioning through an “experimentation phase” and suggests that monetizationwill follow as “mobile habitsbegin to form and users settle into their go-to apps, engagement climbs, knownas the Adoption phase.”
Highlighting the potentialfor increased consumer spending via apps in India, the country is currentlyseeing incredible growth in fast food (quick service restaurant) apps and fooddelivery services.
A Big Opportunity
While these figuresdemonstrate the long term health of the app industry, a huge market does notguarantee for app developers. As the demand for apps increases, so does thecompetition. This makes it increasingly difficult to position the right app infront of the right people at the right time. Failure to do this will result inless than optimized downloads and put additional pressure on your marketingbudget.
Digital Turbine works withapp developers to aid the discoverability of their apps across global markets.No matter what your app does and who your target audience is, we can help driveactivations and engagement.
Talk to one of ourpre-loading experts today to learn how you can maximize your opportunity inthis rapidly growing global market.
