9Apps seeks to widen its consumer base
Ebrahim Popat, Country Manager, 9Apps talks to Girja Shankar Kaura
As India clocks in 300 million mobile internet users (as of December 2015), the country is poised to be the next big app market in the world. Ebrahim Popat, Country Manager, 9Apps, talks about the Indian app industry scenario.
Q. Tell us about 9Apps. What is your user base and where all do you operate?
A. 9Apps is one of the most popular Android apps store with an abundant and varied app repository. As of now, 9Apps and 9Game have 140 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs). 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.
9Apps is a major product of UCWeb — a business within Alibaba Mobile Business Group. It is available in seven languages and covers China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Middle-East and other emerging markets.
Q. How is 9Apps different from other app stores in the market?
A. Our effort has been to provide quality content and services and promote localised and relevant apps and games in each country we operate in. Our homepage offers fresh content on a daily basis and we recommend apps based on your preferences and past choices. Our aim is not just to acquire more users but to engage with them deeply.
Our study shows that maximum Indians continue to use handsets costing 10,000 or less. Over 65% users are using a display with resolution no larger than 540*960. Since most Indians are accessing internet on low speed with poor download capacity, they prefer apps that are lighter, easier to download and bug-free.
Also, most of us do not prefer entering credit card details online. 9Apps has tied up with telecom players and wallets so that all in-app purchases are added to your monthly mobile bill.
Q. How is the app industry faring in India? Which are the most popular apps?
A. Recently, 9Apps released an annual trends report 2015 to outline the trends in the app world. We found that an average Indian user installs no more than 32 apps (lower than the world average). Out of this, at least seven are gaming apps. As high-end smartphones become more popular and prevalent, this number is likely to go up further.
WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and UC Browser remain the top apps of 2015. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and Paytm remain the most popular ecommerce apps.
Also, only 26% users have Hindi language apps and English is the most used language in the app market. Most mobile users in India continue to download apps via 2G network and prefer offline playback versus online streaming since network connections remain weak.
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.
Q. What do you think is preventing Indian app developers from coming up with quality apps?
A. While the Indian app market is on a high-growth trajectory, it continues to face a lot of difficulties, including connectivity, local online payment issues and lack of effective promotional channels.
Keeping the challenges in mind, we have announced the launch of 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.
We want to share the big data and our insights with the industry about mobile app user behaviours. 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.
