Mobile phone users across the globe are increasingly turning to app-based transactions for their daily tasks according to a new report by a respected application analytics company.
According to App Annie’s retrospective report released this week, consumer behavior continues to shift increasingly app-first, the report provides app market and category insights to run mobile businesses better, ET Digital reports.
Given the worldwide growth in both downloads and usage, app publisher revenue grew 40% year-over-year (y/y) – an acceleration over 2015’s growth rate – resulting in $35 billion across iOS and Google Play app stores.
When including in-app advertising, app store revenue and third-party Android stores in 2016, publishers made over $89 billion in revenue.
App downloads grew by 15% worldwide across iOS and Google Play, with total time spent in apps increasing by 25%. Further, the report stated that the average consumer uses well over 30 apps per month across various markets.
Downloads increased by more than 13 billion, reaching 90 billion, across iOS and Google Play
iOS vs. Android
The report notes in the international market, Facebook and Facebook Messenger were the most used apps throughout 2016 for iPhone users.
Meanwhile, for Android, Whatsapp Messenger was the most used application followed by Facebook.
In a sign of its global onslaught, Pokemon Go was the most played smartphone game throughout the year.
Danielle Levitas, senior vice president of research at App Annie said: “We are seeing major indications of a shift towards app downloads. App adoption is growing rapidly in emerging markets – while mature markets are seeing apps challenge and change traditional industries including retail, entertainment and banking.”
Globally, India’s app market grew massively outpacing the US to surpass it as the number one country by Google Play downloads, from around 3.5 billion downloads in 2015 to over 6 billion downloads in 2016.
Meanwhile, Fintech apps have grown in popularity and are opening doors to transforming financial transactions, especially for the long-standing full-service retail banking model.
Local Trends
No figures were available for the Iranian market according to the report. However, indications from third-party stores in recent months show a similar pattern towards app-based transactions.
Meanwhile, another online analytics website, SimilarWeb.com, put Iran’s third-party CaféBazaar.ir app as the 141st most popular site in Iran.
Accordingly, that site saw some 4.2 million visitors in December 2016. That site saw a respective 14.81% growth in visits through the past twelve months y/y.
Alexa.com, another analytics site states that Google.com remains the number one visited website in the country, with Telegram.me the 17th most popular downloaded messaging app.
According to a report in the Financial Tribune in 2016, 71% of the country’s mobile users are Telegram clients; with 37.5% of the population above 18 years stating that they actively use Telegram.
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