App Annie Q3 Market Index: First-time Smartphone Users in India Drive Worldwide Google Play Downloads
BANGALORE, India, Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- App Annie, the world's largest mobile app market data provider, released the App Annie Index: Market Q3 2015, which covers macro trends emerging in mobile app ecosystems across stores, countries and categories. The quarterly report is based on App Annie's leading data solution, App Annie Intelligence. According to Intelligence estimates, Google Play led the worldwide downloads, whereas iOS maintained its lead in revenue. The driving forces behind the performances of each app stores were emerging markets and China.
Google Play surpassed iOS App Store in worldwide downloads by 90%. The growth of first-time smartphone users in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam had a massive impact for its download growth. Especially for India, soaring smartphone shipments, specifically Android OEMs, led to an increased number of first-time smartphone users. iOS App Store maintained its lead in revenue exceeding Google Play by 80%, with China becoming a barometer for Apple's global performance. The popularity of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus had a strong impact for its revenue growth.
Google Play's download performance in India was one of the primary drivers of its stellar worldwide growth. The top performing apps in India for Q3 were security apps such as 360 Mobile Security and SHAREit which saw spectacular download growth. The rise of first-time smartphone users was also seen in the massive popularity of social and messaging apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp Messenger. This is a stark contrast with China which shows signs of market maturity as more complex social networking apps such as social video apps became popular on iOS in Q3.
India is currently Google Play's third largest market by downloads and the world's third largest smartphone market. Taking into account that the smartphone penetration remains in the 10-15% range, India possess tremendous growth potential. This provides incredible opportunities for local app developers as well as for global app developers especially looking to tap new user segments.
For the full analysis of Q3 2015 trends, please visit here
About App Annie:
App Annie is the largest mobile app intelligence platform, providing developers and publishers with a 360-degree view of what they need to know to build, market and invest in their apps. App Annie is used by over 800,000 apps to track their performance, and over 400,000 mobile app professionals - including 94 percent of the top 100 publishers - rely on App Annie to inform their business decisions, including Electronic Arts, Google, LinkedIn, LINE, Microsoft, Nexon, Nestle, Samsung, Tencent, Bandai Namco, Universal Studios and Dow Jones. App Annie is a privately held global company headquartered in San Francisco with 12 global offices in cities including Amsterdam, Beijing, London, New York, Seoul and Tokyo. The company has raised $94 million in funding from e.Ventures, Greycroft Partners, IDG Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, please visit: www.appannie.com or follow App Annie on Twitter: @appannie.
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