9Apps: Interview With Ebrahim Popat

9Apps is one of the most popular Android marketplaces globally with a huge user base as well as an abundant and varied app repository. We recently had the chance to sit with Ebrahim Popat the Country Manager at 9Apps and he gave us some really interesting insights about the latest trends around smartphones, and how they are being used.

1) Latest trends in the Indian Apps industry

As is highlighted from our annual trends report (please refer to the chart below), following are some of the key highlights:

1. An average Indian user installs no more than 32 apps (lower than the world average). Out of this at least 7 are gaming apps. As high-end smartphones become more popular and prevalent, this number is likely to go up further
2. Only 26% users have Hindi language apps. Also, there is limited availability of apps in Hindi. English is the most used language in the app market
3. Most mobile users continue to download apps via 2G network and prefer offline playback versus online streaming since network connections remain weak
4. Going forward, poor connections could hamper users’ willingness to try out new apps and thus hamper the growth of the app market
5. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and UC Browser remain the top apps of 2015
6. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and Paytm remain the most popular ecommerce apps
7. 17% of all daily app downloads continue to be games – with car racing and action games being most popular. India is Asia’s fastest-growing mobile game market with expected revenue of over 1 bn by 2018. The market has ample room to expand as the country’s smartphone penetration remains low and payment infrastructure remains underdeveloped
8. Only 12.8% users are running on mobile OS Android 5.0. 80% of app users use Android 4.0-4.4 OS. Over 65% users are using a display with resolution no larger than 540*960

2) Which apps are more popular among Indian users?

1. Tool is the most downloaded app category followed by social networking sites and video apps
2. 4 of top 10 apps are from social networking and IM category and browser apps
3. Flipkart is the only e-commerce app in the Top 10 chart, ranked at No 9
4. Candy Crush Saga is the only game in the Top 10 chart

You can refer to our annual report at http://trends.9apps.com/report/insights-into-indias-mobile-app-market.html

3) Challenges for Indian app developers going forward

1. While the Indian app market is on a high-growth trajectory, it continues to face lot of difficulties, including connectivity, local online payment issues and lack of effective promotional channels and local app trend insights. Effective addressal to these issues will attract more talent to the sector. The app development industry has undergone rapid expansion and is flush with talent in India. What is missing is the right platform for these developers to showcase their talent, get exposure for their apps and connect with fellow developers.
2. There are a few monitoring tools and services available for tracking app trends around the world, but there is hardly any specifically created for India. Keeping this in mind, we have launched 9Apps Trends, India’s first comprehensive local app market monitoring service that provides app trends, data analysis and an in-depth market report. The monitoring tool will address the growing need for a comprehensive app industry analysis and help local app developers and distributors. 9Apps Trends is a public web facility with free access to all.
3. 9Apps Trends represents the app market movements of millions of users as 9Apps is able to process and interpret the huge data generated via over 18 million daily app distributions. For instance, 9Apps Index, an index number originally created by 9Apps (ranged 1~100), is based on the massive download data from 9Apps Store which reveals how often a particular app is downloaded relative to the total number of apps downloaded on 9Apps Store. Apart from trends, it also offers the best-in-class data analytics products & services and insightful app data reports to developers.
4. We want to share the big data and our insights with the industry about mobile app user behaviors. The report will help Indian mobile users keep up with the trend, and enable app developers to perceive the ever-changing need in the market and twist their business tactics accordingly

4) A bit about 9Apps, and how it stands apart from other app stores, specially Google Play Store

1. 9Apps is one of the most popular Android apps store with 140 million monthly active users worldwide. The two stores altogether have also reached 8.5 million Daily Active Users (DAUs) with over 18 million daily aggregate downloads of apps and games.
2. As the world’s leading third-party app stores for Android apps and games, we position us as a local app store in those countries. Apart from all the free apps available on Google Play, we provide local apps with more visibility, and offer better experience to local users with localized elements.
3. 9Apps is optimized for local network conditions to guarantee a downloading experience to users even if they are in bad connection.
4. Mobile payment is a big issue for India users. 9Apps has tied up with telecom players so that all in-app purchases are added to your monthly mobile bill, even if users do not have a credit card.
5. 9Apps Trends represents the app market movements of millions of users as 9Apps is able to process and interpret the huge data generated via over 18 million daily app distributions. We provide app insights into app market to Indian app developers via 9Apps Trends.
6. 9Apps also launched its new logo recently. The new logo follows the original one and uses number 9 as the graphics core, meanwhile adding the image of the concept of the eagle. Two abstract eagles flying rotated around a circle, showing the sense of speed. Wherein the composition of the logo is the shape of the typhoon, but also overlapping shapes of number 9, thereby highlighting the brand and the 9Apps store with lighter, faster and younger feel. The new logo uses a modern font which looks more friendly and approachable, and is clear on various mobile devices with different resolution.

We hope that this will help Indian mobile users keep up with the trend, and enable app developers to perceive the ever-changing need in the market and twist their business tactics accordingly.

9Apps supports incremental updates to help users save traffic and increase the speed of product upgrades. Serving 140 million monthly active users around the globe, 9Apps is available in 7 languages and covers China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Middle East and other emerging markets. 9APPS is a major product of UCWeb – a business within Alibaba Mobile Business Group. Download 9Apps from 9apps.com.

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