Umeng: In 2012, the number of active iOS users in China reached 85 million, and the number of active Android users reached 160 million

In 2012, the rapid development of mobile Internet was breathtaking. According to Umeng's statistical analysis data, by the end of 2012, the number of active iOS users in China had reached 85 million, and the number of active Android users had reached 160 million. The increase in devices in 2012 was three times that of 2011. At the same time, more and more developers are targeting overseas markets. The number of devices outside mainland China covered by Umeng increased 7.2 times in 2012 compared with 2011. In November 2012, the number of devices outside mainland China exceeded the number of devices in mainland China covered by Umeng. In the era of big data, mobile Internet is reshaping users' lives.

Users’ reliance on mobile apps has increased significantly, and the usage time of video apps has increased by 259%.

In 2012, as the number of mobile Internet users expanded, users' reliance on mobile applications increased significantly. Umeng's statistical analysis platform currently covers more than 100,000 mobile applications on platforms such as iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Judging from the performance of all applications in the past year, the monthly usage frequency of APPs has increased by 16 times, and the total monthly usage time has increased by 12 times. Mobile applications appear in people's lives almost every moment and occupy most of our time.

The most surprising increase is the user's reliance on video applications. In 2012, the average daily time spent on video applications by each user increased from 9 minutes to 31 minutes, an increase of 259%, and the frequency of use also increased by 24%. Users are increasingly accustomed to watching long videos on mobile devices. At present, the domestic commuting time is long, and watching videos is a good way to kill time. With the improvement of the performance of mobile phone and tablet hardware equipment and the development of the network environment, the frequency and duration of video application use will further increase.

In addition, the frequency of use of system tools decreased by 21%. System optimization tools are increasingly integrated into customized systems by mobile phone manufacturers, allowing users to enjoy more content products; the frequency of use of reading applications increased by 114%, and the usage time decreased by 6%. Mobile reading users increasingly prefer short content; this means that developers of reading applications need to carefully consider the length of the APP content and the rules of time division.

Social elements restructure the mobile application landscape

Users no longer use apps in isolation, but connect themselves with the world through various sharing mechanisms. In 2012, "social" no longer appeared simply as a type of application, but gradually became the basis and even a necessary component of mobile application design.

Users who engage in social sharing are generally heavy users, who are more receptive to and dependent on APPs. Umeng data shows that in the same application, the average daily usage frequency of users who engage in social sharing is 3.5 times that of users who do not engage in social sharing, and the average daily usage time is 3.8 times that of the latter. More importantly, these users can form viral transmission through social sharing, thereby bringing in more users. Developers need to focus on providing in-depth services for these high-quality users and participate in their social sharing behaviors to promote their brands more effectively.

The time periods for users to share content are concentrated in the lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00 and around midnight. Different user groups have different sharing habits: the peak sharing periods for white-collar users are 9:00, 14:00, and 20:00 - the beginning of work in the morning and afternoon, and after dinner at 8 pm. The peak sharing periods for students are 13:00 and 17:00-20:00, after lunch, and in the evening after class.

In 2013, as mobile applications continue to penetrate into every aspect of users' lives, the importance of social networking in mobile applications will continue to increase. Games, reading, entertainment, and lifestyle applications (such as pregnancy, mother and baby, etc.) will become the first outbreak points. We look forward to developers creatively integrating social elements to produce more and better apps.

Men prefer music, video apps, adventure, and board games, while women prefer e-commerce shopping guides, photo beautification apps, and mini-games.

From the perspective of mobile application categories, there are obvious differences in usage behavior caused by gender. Different genders have different preferences for games, e-commerce, music, video, entertainment, photography and beautification applications. Women prefer e-commerce applications, while men prefer music and video applications.

From the perspective of game subcategories, the difference brought by gender is more obvious. Adventure and board games have more male users, reaching 70%; while there are more female users of small games, accounting for 66%. Interestingly, education, family, and children's games also have more female users, reaching 65%. It can be seen that in the family, children generally use their mother's mobile device, and mothers are more likely to play the role of accompanying their children for entertainment. Developers can use the gender preferences of various applications to conduct product positioning and strategy analysis.

In the era of big data, the design and operation of mobile applications is not enough based on basic industry, user and device data. It must rely on multi-dimensional analysis of user behavior and preferences, pay attention to all aspects of user behavior, understand user needs and "pain points" through the establishment of necessary tags and groups, and find the focus of APP development, operation and promotion through the mining of seed users and high-quality users. As the best partner of developers, we look forward to the emergence of more creative applications that make life simpler, lower cost or more fun, and bring more surprises to the industry.