The runaway train that is the mobile apps economy is not going to stop.
According to a recently published global report by mobile analytics provider App Annie, over 65% of people install at least one iPhone app every month. South Korea and China lead the way with around 30% of people installing four or more apps per month. Brazil and India also have high app installation rates, almost mirroring that of their Asian-Pacific counterparts in some app categories.
With the concept of peak app continuing to be not much more than an urban legend, people are spending more time in apps, App Annie said.
The Asia-Pacific region leads the way; 20% of smartphone owners in Japan and South Korea spend nearly five hours per day in apps. The United States is not far behind, with one in five people spending four hours per day in apps, the report said.
And that is not going to change anytime soon. By 2021, the total time spent in apps will exceed 3.5 trillion hours, thanks to a rapid rise in app engagement times in the Asia-Pacific region.
“In half of the countries analyzed, over half of all users installed two or more apps,” App Annie said. “On the whole, people are still looking for new apps to add to their arsenal. As mobile becomes more central to more industries, users will continue to be open to integrating new apps into their lives.”
Travel Apps Are Part Of Our Mobile Toolbox
Certain app categories are more prevalent than others, depending on where a person lives.
Shopping and finance apps, for example, are two of the most popular categories—excluding games, naturally—in the major app stores, but engagement is dependent on location. It should also be noted that App Annie’s data for time spent in apps only relates to Android app use.
People in South Korea, India and Japan spend—on average—over 90 minutes per month in shopping apps and just over an hour in finance apps. By contrast, Americans spend almost an hour per month in shopping apps and about 15 minutes in finance apps. Brazil is the only country where finance apps take up more time than shopping, thanks in part to the fact that there are six Brazilian banking apps with more than 10% penetration nationwide, the report said.
One app category that will continue to grow is travel. In the last two years, there has been a demonstrated rise in not only the number of travel apps available but also the amount of time or engagement that people spend with these apps.
In the U.S., for example, people spend more than two hours per month in travel and local information apps. That amount of engagement is somewhat lower in the app-hungry Asia-Pacific (thanks to the amount of time people devote to playing games, perhaps), but App Annie said that the category will continue to grow globally because “mobile is about being on-the-go.” In fact, 80% of Android owners use at least one travel or information app on a regular basis, with the U.S. (again) the leader.
“Even in an industry that’s no stranger to digital disruption, mobile apps are changing the game for travel companies,” said App Annie’s market insights manager Sam Cheney, in a blog post. “Apps are now a part of all stages of a traveler’s journey. Whether looking for inspiration, scoring a great hotel deal, navigating new airports or planning activities, customers are increasingly reliant on their mobile devices.”
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