What are the most popular mobile app categories worldwide?
AppAnnie, the app metric tracker, has released
its quarterly
market index to reveal how mobile app sales are
evolving recently.
A look at the results reveals that the BRIC countries, especially
Brazil, Russia, and China, are rising up the ranks; worldwide iOS
App Store downloads were driven by strong growth in China and
Russia, but Google Play- which grew more than iOS over the past
quarter, was driven by an increase in downloads in Brazil and
Argentina. China moved up two spots to become the third
highest grossing country on the iOS App Store.
Game developers in the Middle East, while they may want to consider
these rising markets, will also be interested in the most popular
categories worldwide. Here, things are staying the same:
game apps are still #1, both in terms of downloads and
revenue, in both the iOS App Store and Google
Play.
According to AppAnnie, games accounted for about 40% of downloads
and for about 70% and 80% of revenue, respectively, on the App
Store and Google Play, during Q3 2013. However, games are losing a
bit of ground compared to other rising categories when it comes to
revenue; revenue from games on the iOS App Store dropped from 75%
during Q2 2013 to 70% during Q3 2013, as a result of growth in
social networking and navigation apps.
Apps in Social Networking, (or Communication, as it's called on
the Google Play), is a sector to watch, not just because it's
maintaining second place in terms of both revenue on the two
stores, but also because of the fierce competition.
Only one category has newly entered the top five this quarter:
Education. For
startups in the Arab world building in the EdTech sector, the
opportunity for a global audience could be promising.