Week 10This week we have news from the Asian mobile markets as well as both good and bad news for Apple.
- Number of Chinese mobile game payers up 5-fold during 2013 (Pocket Gamer)The first article that we recommend this week, features new interesting data from TalkingData about the Chinese mobile games market. Among other things, the numbers reveal that the percentage of Chinese mobile gamers who play at least an hour a day increased from 9% to 28% in 2013. Also, the number of paying gamers in China increased 5-fold during 2013.
- Developers should focus on India not China (The Next Web)Talking about China, this article explains why it might be a good idea for developers to focus on India rather than China. India’s current explosive growth in smartphone penetration, relatively high degree of Westernization and few legal restrictions are some of the reasons listed in the article.
- iPad loses market share lead ([a]listdaily)The worldwide market for tablets grew with no less than 68% in 2013, according to a report from the research company Gartner. Meanwhile, Apple saw their tablet market share drop from 53% to 38%, giving room to especially low-end Android devices. However, the iPad remains the leading high-end tablet with over 70m units shipped in 2013.
- iPhone seen as more desirable in emerging markets (TechCrunch)According to a study by Upstream, Apple might be looking at a promising future in the emerging markets. Although the usage stats currently favor Android devices, a majority of the consumers in China and Vietnam chose the iPhone as the most desirable smartphone.
- Mobile apps overtake PC internet usage in U.S. (CNN)In case you missed it, CNN reported last Friday that internet usage through mobile apps has now exceeded PC usage in the U.S.. Important to note is that this solely includes internet usage within apps, thus does not take mobile web browsing into account.