App Consumers Behaviour In Asia Pacific: Interesting Facts

There is an immense competition in the apps market. Developers and marketers are trying

every single marketing technique to get their app noticed, downloaded and used. Although

smartphones have penetrated the entire world, Asia has emerged as one of the biggest app

markets. The competition among brands has reached an all new level and it has become

extremely difficult for newer brands especially to stay innovative to get noticed!

Google carried out a rather interesting mobile app usage study among smartphone users in

eight different Asian countries. The study reveals some interesting facts, breaks some

stereotypes and provides a statistical report to developers and marketers to incorporate in

their app development and marketing strategies. It is always imperative that one has studied

their target market well enough to execute their marketing plans effectively.

The research they conducted targeted a group of 1000 smartphone users in all the eight

countries in Asia Pacific; Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Australia, India, Taiwan and

Indonesia. Here is what the research team at Google in partnership with the TNS found out:

The extent of mobile app installation is directly related to smartphone penetration in

these countries. Out of the 8 countries in the survey, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong,

Taiwan, Australia and Japan have the highest percentage of smartphone penetration,

more than 50%!

And better yet, Korea remains the undisputed leader of app installation in the region

with over 57 apps downloaded on an average per user. That is a huge number!

Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan follow behind with 40 apps downloaded per

consumer on average.

As the smartphones continue to penetrate even further in these markets and around

the globe, the number of apps downloaded on average per person is going to rise.

The most important information for brands and developers to execute effective app

marketing is to know how most of the people get to know about the kind of app they

intend to market. Yes there is a difference. Although most of the users would arrive at

an app through recommendations from friends and family there are a lot of other

people actively looking for apps through other means, search engines, social media or

by browsing through the app store.

The most common types of apps installed across APAC region are gaming, social

networking and messaging apps. While social networking apps are the most frequently

used in Australia, India and Indonesia; Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are obsessed

with messaging apps. On the other hand, Japan and Korea prefer using news/search

driven apps.

Smartphone penetration over 50% suggests people in these countries use their phones

a lot, more than 3 hours per day in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Taiwan to be

specific. Brands should capitalize on this situation and offer branded apps to consumers

to get in touch with their consumers in their little moments. A lot of brands are already

doing that.

Branded apps for shopping are on a rise in India and Indonesia even though smartphone

penetration is in its early stages there. Consumers in Korea and Taiwan use online

banking apps more than any other branded apps and in Hong Kong eatery/restaurant

apps are the most popular branded apps.

So we see a pattern here, right? That is pretty useful when you consider building and

marketing a certain app next time.

Understanding how people mostly use apps in these countries can give mobile app developers

and marketers a good guidance on how to integrate various useful features and functionalities

into their next app, how to market, what paths to prefer over others and what to expect in the

end.