Android, iOS user bases still dominated by 109m Americans
updated 04:55 pm EST, Fri December 23, 2011
Flurry shows US still the focus of device use
In spite of an international shift, nearly half of active Android and iOS users come from the US, Flurry determined on Friday. About 41 percent of the devices on those platforms running an app in the past 30 days, or 109 million out of the 264 million total, came from the US. Despite the rise in Asian use, China at second place had just 13 percent, or 35 million.
Everyone else accounted for half or less of China's figures, including the UK (17 million), South Korea (16 million), and a three-way tie between France, Germany, and Japan (10 million each).
The potential room to grow was very different in those countries, Flurry said: accounting for how many people in each country didn't own a smartphone but could still afford one, China had the most room to breathe at 122 million possible new users. The US was still strong at an untapped audience of 91 million, but India (75 million) and Japan (65 million) were much better represented with more room to grow. Europe was much more saturated as a result.
A demographic shift could happen in 2012 that reduced the lopsided American representation. China's 1.3 billion people meant it could grow just through sheer numbers. Japan was considered the other hotbed, as it had a wealthier population that was late to adopt smartphones, only just having broken away from its focus on basic feature phones.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2003
Sobering For Microsoft
This post should be sobering for those who talk about the smartphone race being in its infancy, and (specifically) that Microsoft has time to gain share.
Yes, worldwide smartphones may have only reached 10% of potential consumers, but the chart shows about 55% of the "addressable" (and I take that as rather more than "potential") US consumers, have already purchased either an Android or iOS device. #2 China already has a ~35% lock-in.
Is there enough of an advantage to the WP devices to cause many of these users to switch? My magic 8-ball says, "almost impossible."
And is Microsoft advertising heavily enough to snare uncommitted, either no- or feature-phone users? My 8-ball doesn't see it, either.