Flurry: The number of active connected devices (mainly smartphones and tablets) worldwide is expected to reach 2 billion in 2014

Flurry, an American research company, released a report on Monday saying that the number of active Internet-connected devices (mainly smartphones and tablets) in the world currently exceeds 1 billion. At the current development and growth rate, it will reach 2 billion in 2014.

The report found that between April 2012 and April 2013, the number of actively connected devices in the United States grew by 47%. That may seem like a big increase, but it would put it in the bottom 5% of countries worldwide. To be in the top 5%, the growth would have to be three times as much.

The reason why the growth rate of the US market is lower is mainly due to the number of devices and population factors. Take China and the United States as an example. The number of connected devices in the two countries is currently similar, but China's population is more than four times that of the United States, with a large number of potential users and citizens' incomes growing rapidly. Therefore, between April 2012 and April 2013, the number of active connected devices in China increased by 149%.

In the future, the above factors will continue to drive the growth of the number of active connected devices in China. For example, if China's smartphone and tablet penetration rate reaches the level of Malaysia, it means that the number of devices in use will increase by 210 million. Malaysia was chosen as a comparison because the per capita income of the two countries is similar.

Meanwhile, the number of active connected devices in India grew by 160% during the same period. In the future, if India reaches China’s current smartphone and tablet penetration rates, and China reaches Malaysia’s smartphone and tablet penetration rates, the global number of connected devices will increase by more than 400 million.

Although the number of active connected devices in China and India increased by 149% and 160% respectively, they were still not the highest. During this period, the number of active connected devices in many countries increased by more than 200%, and more than a dozen countries increased by more than 300%.

The report points out that there is still a lot of room for growth in this market, as current penetration rates are still low in many countries. Therefore, the rapid development of actively connected devices has the potential to fundamentally change the current mobile ecosystem.

Currently, these connected devices are relatively expensive, but they are often replaced. The corresponding applications are also developed by developers in relatively wealthy countries. But when the number of these devices exceeds 2 billion, I believe consumers will pay more attention to low-cost devices. As the devices become more and more popular, I believe the number of developers will also increase.

In addition, these devices will play a more important role in the future than just communication and entertainment functions, such as mobile commerce, telemedicine and distance education.