InMobi: Developers ignore the Chinese apps market at their peril

Whether you work in San Francisco, New York or anywhere else in the U.S., the place app developers should be thinking about most is China, according to a recent report from InMobi. The company released the results of recently-concluded research, based on a survey of both U.S. and Chinese consumers, on its blog.

  • Ninety-seven percent of smartphone users in China revealed that they proactively search for new apps to download, with 37 percent of them searching on a daily basis.
  • While 86 percent of all users in the U.S. said that they have downloaded at least one app in the last month, 93 percent of users in China downloaded an app during the same period.
  • 37 percent of users surveyed in China claimed to be influenced by price while making a download decision, compared to 61 percent in the U.S.
  • 46 percent of users surveyed in China said they have made in-app purchases. In the U.S., 37 percent said the same.

"Developers can no longer afford to ignore the limitless potential of the Chinese app market," the company said. "Sure, there are several challenges to succeed in this country. However, given the huge smartphone user base, grabbing even a small share of the available pie can help developers boost their app business significantly."   

In-app purchases (US vs China)

Source: InMobi

InMobi works in the mobile ad space, and part of its underlying message is that its tools make in-app ads more relevant. Not surprisingly, its research supports this, by showing that respondents to its survey, both in China and the U.S., preferred context-aware ads and rich media ads compared to banners. Overall, the percentage differences between China vs. the U.S. were significant but not necessarily huge enough for developers to shift focus entirely. InMobi is simply suggesting developers keep China in mind as they create their next apps and games.

There were no details posted about the methodology behind this research, such as sample size. Hopefully InMobi will publish a more complete version soon. In the meantime, you can look at the details published on its blog.

For more:
- see this InMobi blog post

Related articles:
Why the next big app explosion will be in China
Amazon expands Appstore for Android to China, trumps Google with paid apps
Strategy Analytics: Samsung dominates Chinese smartphone market in Q1