Japan overtakes US for Google Play revenue
According to a report released by App Annie recently, Japan has surpassed the U.S. and is now the number one country in terms of Google Play revenue. This is the first time in history that the U.S. did not rank as the top country on Google Play in terms of revenue. Since January 2012, the Google Play revenue in the U.S. has only grown 2x while the revenue in Japan has increased by 10x!
According to Bertrand Schmitt, CEO of App Annie, Japan has experienced tremendous growth in revenue because the average revenue per user in Japan is significantly higher than that in other countries. In fact, the monthly download volume for Google Play apps in the U.S. is 4 times than the download volume in Japan, but Japan still managed to overtake U.S. in terms of app revenue. This indicates that Japanese are much more willing to pay for apps.
For iOS apps, although U.S. is still ahead of Japan in terms of monthly revenues, Japan is closing up the gap gradually. In the below chart, one can see that the global share of Japan in terms of monthly revenues for iOS apps has risen month by month while all its counterparts are losing their shares, signifying Japan is growing much faster than other countries in terms of iOS revenues.
Want to get a share of the booming market in Japan?
Localization is the key to success!
As mentioned in our previous blog post, Japan has a very strong preference for their local language, i.e. Japanese. In the below chart, one can see that almost 70% of free downloads and nearly 80% of revenues generated in Japan are from apps that offer native language supports.
So if you want to get a share of the thriving app market in Japan, localizing your apps into Japanese might be something that you would want to consider.
Translating your apps can be easy with OneSky, see how.
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