DCCI: Where is the App moving? 8 changes are happening

The report "Where are Apps Moving? 8 Changes Taking Place" released by DCCI in 2012 provides insights into eight subtle changes taking place in the mobile Internet APP field through the changing data of mobile application programs. The following is an interpretation of the core data of the report:

1. Surging: Developers are pouring in at an accelerated pace, the mobile app ecosystem of iOS is improving, and Android is gradually facing concerns

Let’s first look at a few sets of data: China’s iPhone users > 26 million; China’s iPad users > 3 million; Apple’s revenue in China is $13 billion; Apple naturally makes enough money in China to make even Steve Jobs happy.

In 2011, the total number of Apple applications reached 613,445. Games are still king. To gain an advantage, developers need to be compatible with iPhone and iPad. If they only develop for Android, they will lose the market.

Developers are entering the mobile Internet at an accelerated pace, and the trend of mobile socialization is obvious. Social Apps are still in a bubble and have not yet been reshuffled. From the data, we can see that the growth rate of the number of apps in 2011 reached 202.5%; the growth rate of social, financial, news and other applications is very fast.

2. Transforming: Freecharge is not a typo, Free Get Pay, free and incremental promotion of charging

Paid apps may have a short-term effect, developers are shifting their attention to free apps, and free apps have great potential in the future

Among the accumulated APPs, paid applications account for 57.3% and free applications account for 42.7%; the average price of paid APPs is US$2.44; if in 2010, 2/3 of the developers of the newly added APPs still earned income through paid applications in the Apple Store, in 2011, the proportion of new applications adopting the free model has exceeded 66.6%; it can be seen that the free value-added model is more recognized by the market and developers.


In 2012, free apps will surpass paid apps, and free apps integrating In-App Payment will gradually become the mainstream; the data in the figure below shows that the proportion of free apps is gradually increasing. As free value-added services are more feasible, more and more developers are adopting this model.

3. Igniting: Development-operation-promotion explosion points are in categories and timing, and the holiday-event detonation effect is significant

Books have the smallest increase due to copyright restrictions. Business apps may become the focus in 2012

Special holidays usher in a peak in the number of new apps, and 2012 will be another outbreak point in the year of major events

Game apps surged in December, influenced by Christmas and Spring Festival, fierce competition, holiday operation strategy becomes the key

4. Diffusing: Local apps have great potential for internationalization, but the direction needs to be grasped. In-app value-added and copyright control. The English version is more valued by developers, and apps are showing an international trend. The Chinese version is limited by the payment habits of Chinese users.

Games are sold in large quantities at low prices and profit from value-added, while tools and commercial applications are sold in small quantities at high prices and are superior in quality and copyright. From the different application prices, we can see that game applications are mostly promoted at low prices to profit from value-added; while tools and commercial applications have a narrower target audience and less profit margin, so they are mostly sold at high prices. – Via: DCCI

5. Diversifying: Developers are moving towards e-commerce and socialization, with games as the main profit point and LBS becoming a standard feature. Games are the first choice for most developers, and LBS has become a standard feature. The trend of e-commerce and socialization is obvious.

Individual developers focus on games (diversified profits), while companies/teams focus on e-commerce and social development

6. Infiltrating: The wave of device replacement drives 600,000 apps to 25 billion downloads. The energy of third- and fourth-tier markets is beginning to be released. Mobile app downloads are becoming more active, applications are diversified, and apps have become the gateway for mobile users to connect to the Internet.

Users in third-tier and fourth-tier cities and below spend longer time online and have stronger stickiness. Is this an opportunity for online gaming apps?

7. Enclosing: Microsoft, Apple and Google battle it out in a three-dimensional layout of pipes and terminals

8. Translocating: Multiple screens in one place - Multiple screens integrated - Multiple screens in one network, tablets surpass PCs in all aspects in 2013