PP Assistant: Research on the development trend of Android mobile applications in the first half of 2015

Alibaba's mobile assistant, PP Assistant Android, released the "2015 First Half Mobile Application Development Trend Research Report". The report objectively and authoritatively interprets the hot spots and development trends of wireless apps in the first half of 2015 through the number of mobile app launches and downloads of PP Assistant Android, and conducts a detailed analysis of the entire mobile app ecosystem.

The PP Assistant Android version report shows that in the first half of 2015, China's mobile Internet was in a comprehensive transformation stage. Through the early layout, major Internet giants are gradually forming their own complete ecosystems. As of the second quarter of 2015, China's mobile Internet users reached 657 million. Mobile terminals have become the mainstream usage habit of users. As the core content of mobile Internet, mobile applications and application stores have become the main entrance for users to obtain mobile APPs. As a well-known mobile distribution platform in China, PP Assistant Android version quickly covered 100 million users within 10 months after its establishment, with a total download of more than 650 million times per month. PP Assistant Data Research Institute has conducted detailed monitoring and analysis of the hot spots and development trends of mobile applications in the first half of 2015 through such a large and fast data sample.

Now let’s open the report and see what the development trend of mobile apps is in the first half of 2015.

1. The proportion of female mobile Internet users continues to rise, and second-tier cities have become important areas of mobile Internet influence

First, in terms of user gender, the proportion of female mobile users increased by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2015, and the proportion continued to rise. The "female economy" model is ready to take off, which will directly affect the product attributes of the application market and tend to female needs and habits. Selfie, shopping, beauty, and sharing applications will continue to be popular. From the perspective of changes in user geographical distribution, compared with the first quarter, the proportion of users in second-tier cities in the second quarter increased to 41.4%, becoming the main force of mobile Internet. In second-tier cities, users are mainly concentrated in the capital cities of the southwest and central and southern provinces, among which Chengdu ranks first with a share of 22%. At the same time, the proportion of mobile Internet users in first-tier cities remains stable, while the proportion of third-tier and lower cities has declined significantly. It can be seen that second-tier cities can be used as the key market for mobile applications.

2. Android smartphone market: Samsung’s position is shaken, Xiaomi’s share increases significantly, and new domestic brands enter the market

In terms of hardware, in the first half of 2015, domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Huawei began to shake Samsung's absolute leading position. Xiaomi's market share increased significantly, from 7.9% in the first quarter to 16.23% in the second quarter, which may be related to its release of many new models in the second quarter. The old manufacturers Lenovo, ZTE, and HTC continued to shrink, and new brands Coolpad, VIVO, and OPPO successively entered the Android market, providing users with more diverse choices.

3. Application distribution trends: Video and audio playback is rising with the variety show craze, practical life gadgets are popular, and stand-alone games have broad prospects

Through the monitoring data of the number and download share of the TOP 10 categories of applications in 2015 Q1-Q2 by PP Assistant Android, it is found that in the first half of 2015, the three categories of applications, video playback, system tools and leisure and puzzle applications, still occupied the TOP 3 of the number of applications and user downloads of PP Assistant Android. Among the TOP 10 categories of applications, the online shopping category has a high demand for downloads, ranking fourth, and the number of applications ranks eighth, which is a red ocean market; the communication and social category has a flat demand for downloads, but a large number of applications, which is a blue ocean market. I believe this will also bring new inspiration to the majority of application developers.

The PP Assistant Android version report also provides a detailed analysis of the development trends of the six major application categories in the first half of 2016: video and audio playback, system tools, communication and social networking, e-commerce, life services and mobile games:

1. Video and audio playback: "Phenomenal celebrity reality show + music talent show" ignites variety show craze

Since the first quarter of 2015, celebrity reality shows and music talent shows have not only exploded on TV screens, but also occupied users' mobile phones. The broadcast of celebrity reality shows such as "Running Man", "Flowers and Youth", and "Where Are We Going, Dad?" triggered a viewing boom for variety shows, boosting the download of film and television apps such as Youku and iQiyi; while music talent shows such as "The Voice of China", "I Am a Singer", and "King of Masked Singer" stimulated the download of music apps such as Tiantian Dongting.

2. System tools: Wifi access is still a necessity

Through the monitoring of PP Assistant Android version, during the holiday period in February and May, users had a high demand for wifi acquisition apps and security software apps. This shows that in the mobile Internet era, users still have a rigid demand for Wifi network acquisition, and they also have a high demand for mobile phone information security. The surge in downloads of such apps is also related to users' travel and return home behavior.

3. Communication social networking - anonymous social networking returns to rationality, and Momo dominates the market

In terms of communication and social networking, QQ, WeChat and other acquaintance social networking apps are still the mainstream social tools for users. After experiencing a crazy growth in anonymous social networking apps, users gradually returned to their senses in the first half of 2015, and Momo became the undisputed champion app. The communication element of social networking apps also continues to stand out, and apps with free phone functions such as YY Voice and Weihui are more popular among users.

4. E-commerce: vertical e-commerce impacts comprehensive e-commerce

With the continuous development of mobile online shopping, mobile users have formed online shopping habits. In the first half of 2015, the proportion of vertical e-commerce in group buying rose to 40%, and the download volume of Meituan, Baidu Nuomi and other apps increased significantly. At the same time, the e-commerce market segmentation has become more refined, and the trend of vertical e-commerce dividing comprehensive e-commerce has become clear.

5. Lifestyle services: Gadgets dominate the lifestyle services category

In terms of life service applications, the gadget category ranks first with a download rate of 57.69%, which shows that "down-to-earth" mobile applications are favored by users for their practicality. Among specific application categories, price comparison, weather and remote control applications firmly hold the top 3 downloads of users, and the demand is relatively large.

In addition, 2014 was the first year of the development of smart hardware, and 2015 entered a period of explosive growth. In the first half of the year, the market sales of smart hardware products such as wearable devices and smart homes grew rapidly, with overall sales increasing by 264% year-on-year and users increasing by 215%. The rapid development of the smart hardware market has also directly driven the development of the matching software application market, and has spawned a new lifestyle of user scenario-based survival and "soft and hard" use.

6. Mobile games: The share of stand-alone games has expanded significantly, with high profit margins

In terms of mobile games, from the first half of 2015, the fragmented time characteristics of mobile Internet brought vitality to the stand-alone game market, which led to a significant expansion of the share of stand-alone games. Whether in Q1 or Q2, they accounted for more than 70% of the download volume and brought a large profit margin. At the same time, the rapid development of single-product/stand-alone games also had a certain impact on comprehensive/online game platforms.

In addition, holidays also have a great impact on the download volume of mobile games. Through the monitoring of PP Assistant Android version, the holidays in February and May have a great impact on the download volume of both stand-alone games and online games, but the difference is that the download curve of stand-alone games is relatively stable before and after holidays, while the download curve of online games is relatively steep before and after holidays. In terms of game types, action stand-alone games and color role-playing online games are the most popular among users, with download volumes exceeding 40%.

4. Mobile APP focuses more on the development of mobile O2O applications

The rise of mobile Internet is rapidly changing the lifestyle of mobile netizens. O2O, as a new lifestyle, is gradually entering the lives of netizens, and mobile APPs are also focusing more on the development of mobile O2O applications. According to the monitoring of PP Assistant Android version, in the first half of 2015, group buying, taxi-hailing, and payment became the most frequently used O2O scenarios, and the market structure was very stable. Among them, the taxi market is the most competitive, and the segmentation of service categories such as special cars and express cars has led to a high number of products, accounting for 33.47%; group buying products have become the most downloaded O2O APPs by users with 32.63% of downloads. In addition, the categories of examinations, food, sports, and ticketing that developers pay the most attention to are also in the market cultivation period and have a large development space. In terms of region, first-tier cities have become the main birth areas of O2O applications with their high purchasing power and active market environment, of which Beijing accounts for nearly 60%.

In the active O2O scenarios, group buying applications have become more diversified and are no longer just about "buying, buying, buying". Among them, the comprehensive group buying market of Baidu Nuomi, Meituan, Dianping, etc. has become mature and the pattern is stable. The share of fine-grained applications such as discounts, travel, movies, and food continued to rise in the first half of 2015, but there is still broad room for development.

Taxi-hailing apps experienced a continuous upgrade of the service model of "call → fast → ride → special" in the first half of 2015, and after a long period of market cultivation and marketing promotion, they reached the download peak in May, the peak season for taxi-hailing in summer. Now, taxi-hailing apps such as Didi Taxi and UBER have landed on the mobile phones of most users and have replaced taxis as the first choice for users to take taxis.

In terms of O2O payment, according to the monitoring of PP Assistant Android version, in the first half of 2015, online payment was the most mainstream application category with the largest share in the payment category, and "going out without money" has become a new payment method in the O2O environment. At the same time, with the development of the O2O industry, other subcategories such as mobile financial management, mobile credit card payment, and online earning have also emerged, but the market cultivation period is relatively long.

At the same time, O2O payment has also become a battlefield for Internet giants. In April 2015, the "City Service" section was launched on the Alipay product side. Users can complete vehicle violation inquiries, entry and exit inquiries, medical registration, passenger car lottery and other services on the client side, while WeChat Pay has taken over the online payment services of supermarkets and convenience stores. It can be seen that O2O payment will become the next cake for Internet giants.