Telecom Lead Europe: Localized content has always been
a great driver to augment VAS services and the same goes with the app world.
ABI Research, in its recent study, has found that locally developed and well translated
content is the key to having mobile apps discovered by consumers.
In Apple’s Japanese App Store, 87 percent of the ten
highest-ranked apps in all 21 categories were available in Japanese, as of
February, according to ABI Research.
Not only in Japan, but the bandwagon has been observed in
other countries as well. In Apple’s German App Store, 83 percent of the ten
highest-ranked apps in all 21 categories were available in German. In France
the percentage recorded at 82 percent.
In China, Chinese-speaking apps accounted for 76 percent of
the highest-ranked apps with about half of them developed specifically for
the local market.
Our findings confirm that apps that fit into the
local culture, or at least speak the audience’s native language, see a
measurable boost in their download rankings. This means two things. First,
domestic developer communities will always have a certain edge in winning over
the consumers’ hearts and minds. Second, larger developer houses with global
ambitions risk seeing their expensive releases go unnoticed if they don’t
localize the content properly,” said Aapo Markkanen, Senior analyst.
However, the study further reveals that designing apps
solely according to consumers’ needs is often not enough.
Developers who struggle to be discovered should envisage and
pay attention to what the device vendors that distribute and curate apps want
to showcase about their products.
A lot of future Android handsets will support NFC, so
we expect Google and its OEM partners to promote the first wave of NFC-based
apps strongly,” said Dan Shey, Practice director.
He added that if new technologies employed smartly, could
pay off for the developers in future.
In-App Purchases to Outpace Pay-Per-Download Revenues in 2012,
Says ABI Research
In another study ABI Research predicted that global mobile
app revenues from pay-per-download, in-app purchase, subscriptions, and in-app
advertising will grow from $8.5 billion in 2011 to $46 billion in 2016.
editor@telecomlead.com
