| By Pat Meier-Johnson |
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| May 10, 2012 02:08 PM EDT |
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China's mobile wireless market topped the 1 billion, according to an article in Forbes with Apple sales in China contributing 20% to Apple sales in the March quarter of 2012.
How does the China market fare for app developers?
A greater percentage of China's iOS users spend more money on apps than do their Android counterparts, says a study conducted by China mobile ad platform company, Guohe Ad. Apple has a head start in the app business, and this may be because of Apple's removal of the currency barrier and allowing payment by RMB for app downloads. 62% of the iPhone users have at least bought one app before, and among these app-buyers, surprisingly 17% have bought more than 11 apps.
Conversely, only 23% of Android users surveyed ever purchased any apps...but that doesn't mean they don't download them. In fact, Android users in China have more than 100 different third party app stores at their fingertips, mostly offering apps for free -- well, sort of. Android phone users have a higher tolerance for in-app ads. 25% of Apple phone consumer are willing to pay to have their apps be ad-free, while the same position is held by just 13% of Android users. This tells mobile marketers that they need to take care with how they handle their brands' mobile advertising to avoid alienating iPhone users and hurting the brand's image.
Content thrives among China's mobile users and apps that let them share music and other content are in demand. IM apps are taking market share away from SMS and are clearly preferred over phone calls and texts among 18 - 22 year-olds according to youth market agency, Enovate. For business people there is a growing choice of productivity and business/social apps that facilitate socializing, particularly in professional settings. Cloud-storage apps are also on the rise.
Adoption of 3G networks is accelerating, according to Neo Zhang, co-founder of Guohe Ad, and 2012 will be the tipping point for everything mobile in China with more utilization of mobile platforms and development of high quality apps specifically for the China mobile market.
The full report, "Mobile Advertising: Six Key Trends in 2012" is available at http://bit.ly/y3YVCc
