Size does matter, as Indians go for phablet sized phones

24th March 2017
Size does matter, as Indians go for phablet sized phones

Yahoo/Flurry study shows Indian app usage  growing at 43%
New Delhi, March 24, 2017: On their tenth anniversary mobile apps, seem to have reached the tipping point, with Asia -- and -- India leading the trend of jumbo phones  or phablets.    Music, Media and Entertainment applications saw the biggest usage increase at 188%  while time-spent in Messaging and Social apps grew by 52%, finds a “State of the App Nation in India” by the Flurry Analytics, division of Yahoo.
The study uncovers insights around mobile app activity and their usage, emerging growth categories and device adoption trends in India. It is backed by data gleaned from over 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion global devices from across the world, and the 58,000 apps, across 147 million devices from India,
The phablet (devices with screens between 5” and 6.9”) is the fastest growing mobile device globally. In India, phablets have a market share of 61%, outpacing growth in the US which has 48% market share. When looking into the mobile usage in India, one major trend emerged: India’s mobile usage looks a lot like global usage did six months ago, still ascending on the growth curve but not at the rate we saw the year prior.  
Says Christopher Klotzbach, Director, Flurry from Yahoo, in his presentation here today: “As smartphones celebrate their first decade; the mobile app industry has grown into a dog-eat-dog world. The decelerating rate of global growth could signal market maturity, saturation or simply the end of the app gold rush. Going back to India’s six-month mobile trend delay, there’s no better time for local developers to innovate, and lessen or possibly stop a local industry pause. We are excited to see what app developers do in the next decade and watch which industry they chose to disrupt, again.”
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For images and graphs of this study, see our
Image of the Day spot.

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Key Insights and Trends from Flurry: State of the App Nation in India (All data as measured by Flurry YoY from 2015 - 2016)
India’s app usage grew 43% YoY: The India app usage grew at 92% during the same period last year (2015).
Diversification of apps: App categories seeing the fastest growth in India:  The top 3 app growth categories in India are Music, Media and Entertainment followed by Business and Finance apps, and Utilities and Productivity apps. Music, Media and Entertainment applications saw the biggest usage increase at 188% YOY, which can be attributed to rise of phablet devices and better Internet connectivity in India. Business and Finance apps grew 176% YoY. Utilities and Productivity apps grew 99% YoY
Messaging and social apps remain one of the most engaged categories in Asia and India: Time-spent in Messaging and Social apps grew by an impressive 52% in India and 44% globally.
Personalization apps see decline: Much like the global trends, Personalization apps saw the biggest usage decrease at -32%. This decrease is due to operating systems integrating the functionality of these apps natively.
Indian mobile consumers have very diverse tastes while selecting their mobile manufacturer: More than 12 mobile makers have a substantial footprint locally with Samsung leading with 40% market share, followed by brands like Micromax, Redmi and Lenovo. This is an interesting phenomenon, compared to mobile manufacturer popularity globally where on average there are about six major mobile manufacturers.
Sticky Apps Tied to Daily Habits: Some of the most successful app categories throughout the years have tapped into the mobile addict population. They’re also apps that rely on live data, such as Business and Finance (up 43% globally in time-spent; up 176% in India). Interestingly in India, this trend is best seen in Health and Fitness app usage (up 27% locally). These apps see high hourly engagement throughout the day, as users turn to their mobile and wearable devices to track their fitness goals and progress.
Shopping Apps Spell the Doom and Gloom of Brick and Mortars: In 2016, shopping apps continued to gain popularity, growing 31% globally and 12% in India.
Video Killed the Gaming Star: Gaming, the app category known as “the darling of the mobile industry,” saw time-spent decline by 4% globally and a small growth in India of just 8%.
Mobile consumers in India are night owls: with peak usage rolling in around 9PM. Indian users are generally slower to turn to their phones in the morning but quickly scale usage throughout the later morning hours.