Umeng: The growth rate of WP Apps from April to August 2012 was higher than that of iOS and Android Apps in the same period

On August 24, 2012, a jury in a federal court in San Jose, California, ruled that Samsung had infringed Apple's patents and ordered Apple to pay $1.05 billion in damages. This news caused a stir in the industry. Some analysts pointed out that the ultimate beneficiaries of this lawsuit will be Microsoft and the Windows Phone industry - judging from the current capital market situation, this seems to be true: after the lawsuit was settled, Samsung's stock fell 7.5%, Google fell 1.3%, and even HTC and ZTE's stock prices fell, while Nokia's stock rose 10.2%.

So, after this fierce battle, what kind of changes have or should the mentality of mobile developers undergone? Will it really be as analysts say that the Windows Phone/Windows 8 platform is the next spring for developers and investors?

In early 2012, Umeng conducted a survey on developers, and the data showed that more developers intend to choose the Windows Phone platform for application development in the future (report link: //blog.umeng.com/index.php/2012/06/191p/). In the past six months, Umeng's statistics have verified this trend, and the attention and energy developers have paid to the Windows Phone platform are quite remarkable. From April to August 2012, among the apps registered and used by Umeng, the growth rate of Windows Phone apps has always been higher than the growth rate of iOS and Android apps in the same period. From this trend, we can see the mentality of developers.

Comparing historical data, we can see the rapid growth of Windows Phone APP from another perspective. In August 2010, Umeng launched the Android statistics function. In the following 6 months, the number of Android APPs covered by Umeng increased to 6 times the initial number. After Umeng launched the Windows Phone statistics function in January 2012, the number of Windows Phone APPs covered by Umeng increased to 19 times the initial number in 6 months. It seems that Windows Phone APP developers are more enthusiastic.

It is worth mentioning that after the lawsuit between Samsung and Apple came to an end, since August 26, the proportion of new Windows Phone apps appearing on the Umeng statistics platform has exceeded the average proportion in August (1.1%), reaching a maximum of 3.3%. Whether this is a coincidence or the mentality of developers is changing, it is still too early to say.

On the other hand, from the overall trend, the data in the past six months show the healthy growth of the Windows Phone platform. After Umeng conducted statistics on the active devices and application development of the Windows Phone platform in 2012, it was found that since the second quarter of 2012, the active devices and application launches of Windows Phone in China have shown a continuous and explosive growth. From April 2012 to July 2012, the number of active Windows Phone devices increased by 22 times, and the monthly launch times of Windows Phone applications increased by 69 times. The average number of monthly application launches per active device increased by 200%. These far exceeded the relevant data of the iOS and Android platforms in the same period - from April to July 2012, the number of active iOS devices and monthly application launches increased by 1 times; the number of active Android devices increased by 3 times, and the number of monthly application launches increased by 4 times.

Comparing the early development of Android and iOS devices, the number of active iOS & Android devices covered by the Umeng platform increased by 3 times and the number of application launches increased by 5 times from October 2010 to April 2011. This shows that the growth rate of the Windows Phone platform is indeed amazing.

Currently, the number of active Windows Phone devices and application launches is only about one percent of the relevant data for iOS and Android. It will take some time, some effort, and even some luck for Windows Phone to grow into a dazzling platform like iOS and Android.

But there is no doubt that the lawsuit between Apple and Samsung will indeed affect manufacturers and developers' evaluation of various platforms for a long time. With the continuous development of the new system, the Windows Phone platform will gradually form and consolidate its own advantages. On August 31, the first Windows Phone 8 smartphone was released by Samsung at the Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin, Germany, and more Windows Phone 8 phones will appear at the joint press conference of Microsoft and Nokia to be held on September 5. From the system to the terminal, to the application and the developer, the Windows Phone platform has made a lot of preparations. We will wait and see what the future holds.