A woman walked with her smartphone in Shanghai. China is the No. 1 smartphone market in the world.
The smartphone and tablet phenomena began in the United States, after
Apple introduced the iPhone and the iPad. But most of the sales from
mobile software are coming from Asia.
A new study by Distimo, a mobile apps
research firm, found that Asia was the most lucrative mobile app market
in the world. It said 41 percent of global app revenue in December came
from Asia, while 31 percent came from North America and 23 percent from
Europe.
Distimo’s report looked at revenue from
Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play store in various countries. Japan
was the most lucrative mobile app market in Asia, followed by South
Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the report said.
Compared with a year earlier, South Korea had
the highest revenue growth, at 271 percent, followed by Hong Kong at
211 percent and China at 203 percent.
These figures could encourage businesses and
software developers to consider focusing on Asian countries by tailoring
their apps for different cultures. The report’s findings also
underscore how enormous the smartphone market has become in Asia,
especially China, the No. 1 smartphone market in the world.