With 5.2 billion of the world’s 6.8 billion mobile subscribers in the developing world, handset manufacturers and developers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Facebook and Mozilla, are renewing their efforts to connect and cater to emerging market consumers. However, new data finds that although the majority of consumers in these regions use Android devices because of their accessibility, Apple is actually the most coveted mobile brand in the developing world.
‘The Next Mobile Frontier’ report from mobile marketing expert Upstream, which polled the views of a representative sample of 4,504 consumers in Brazil, China, India, Nigeria and Vietnam in conjunction with analyst house Ovum, revealed that Apple (32%) is the most desired brand in these countries, with Samsung (29%) second and Nokia (13%) third.
Samsung has been knocked off the top spot as the most desired brand in Upstream’s emerging market research in 2013, but Android devices currently remain the handsets of choice in these regions with 296,493 active Android smartphones in comparison to 90,184 IOS devices.
Where brand status has often contributed to mobile handset success in the West, reasons for purchasing a particular handset in emerging markets are more diverse. Functionality is the primary reason for the majority of consumers (Brazil: 44%, Nigeria: 47%, Vietnam: 48%, China: 46% and India: 48%), with nearly half of consumers stating this is the most important motivation for purchase. This complements Facebook and Ericsson’s creation of a lab that enables app developers to test their software on the types of networks and phones available in developing countries.
For Brazilian consumers (22%), trust in the brand is the next most important factor and brand aspiration is key for Nigerian (23%), Indian (26%), Chinese (21%) and Vietnamese (29%) consumers.
Marco Veremis, Upstream CEO, said in a statement: “The race to emerging market consumers is truly underway after several announcements from handset manufacturers, content providers and notably Facebook – all of who are developing devices or mobile content specifically for consumers in these regions. However, blindly approaching new markets without obtaining granular insights into what people in these regions actually want and acknowledging what is important to them will lead to challenges along the way. Only when each player truly understands the audience of each region – being able to answer the questions of ‘what’s affordable’, ‘what content do consumers want’ and ‘what functionality is preferred’ – will they be able to connect with the consumers they are trying to reach”.
App Wars – Who’s Making the Play for Success
As more Western brands and app developers realise the potential to offer mobile content to consumers in emerging markets, Upstream’s research reveals that 40 per cent of users access content via Google Play – although consumers desire Apple devices, most people in these regions are using lower cost Android smartphones. In the age-old Android vs. IOS rivalry in the UK and US, the data finds that in emerging markets, just 28 per cent of consumers are using Apple’s App Store. Further to this, more than one in four consumers (26%) are accessing content directly from their mobile operator’s own app store, highlighting the importance of local relationships and the trust consumers put in their mobile network operator.
These app stores are not without their frustrations. Results from the report show that the most prevalent app store problem experienced by emerging market consumers is the high level of promotional messages received (24%), suggesting that users are not amenable to in-app advertising. Furthermore the data revealed difficulty in navigating app stores to find downloadable content (24%) is another primary frustration. For example, 1 in 5 respondents point out that app stores have a lack of personalised suggestions (20%) and 1 in 10 (11%) say a major problem with current app stores options is the lack of payment methods offered when purchasing content. With many emerging market consumers not having access to credit cards, it will be the app stores that cater to all payment methods that will achieve widespread success.
Veremis adds, “The device challenge has now diffused to the app stores as consumers in emerging markets want localised content that they can pay for by different methods. This is where we see the dominance of relationships with local operators who have built up the trust and mutual understanding that bigger players have not yet developed – including the ability to offer personalised content, recommendations and flexible payment via their normal mobile billing. It is a very welcome announcement that Facebook and Ericsson are encouraging app developers to create content that is accessible to a global audience, perhaps prompting handset manufacturers, operators and app developers to follow suit in the year ahead.”
Source: Upstream
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Judge Bork” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Boycott the lame Samsung copycats – Plastic cheap turds in hand are not the way to spend your money and or time! PLUS RESALE ON iPhones ARE WAY BETTER – Use braincells and buy the best… iPhone
I have boycotted that entire company’s consumer products and have dissuaded several of my friends from buying their consumer products.
5.8 billion? The world population is 7.1 billion. I would estimate maybe 1 billion are under 5 years old. A couple of billion are dirt poor in Africa, India and other countries. Nearly 1/3 billion are in prisons. I truly doubt there is a market for more than 70% of the world.
“…6.8 billion…”
While the numbers are dubious, the opportunity for Apple seems encouraging.
But Apple can’t win when there are $100-200 Crapandroid phones out there, right?
Apple can’t win because (choose one):
1) their products are toys
2) their products are overpriced
3) their products have inferior specs
4) their products occupy a niche
5) their products can’t be used to perform real work
6) their products are derivative
7) their products are designed by girly men for girly men
8) their products emerge from human sweatshops
9) their products utilise stolen IP
10) their products fail to cater to consumer preferences
11) their products suck
12) their board of directors are clueless ninnies
13) their board of directors contains Al Gore (barely)
14) their board of directors is, and has been, riddled with industrial moles
15) their board of directors, like any other, is just phoning it in and collecting a check
16) CEO Tim Cook is over his head
17) CEO Tim Cook is asleep at the switch
18) CEO Tim Cook is a puppet of the LGBT phalanx
19) CEO Tim Cook’s pet Shih Tzu is being held hostage by Greenpeace
20) CEO Tim Cook was abducted and replaced by a deranged replicant
21) design guru Jony Ive has scalp psoriasis
22) design guru Jony Ive has let Knighthood go to his head
23) design guru Jony Ive tired of his all-white room and went berserk in an explosion of colour designs
24) design guru Jony Ive didn’t care a whit about software design, and farmed it out to Hasbro
25) Scott Forstall was their last chance for greatness, and he was rolled
26) Scott Forstall left behind a planted confederate, who sabotaged iOS 7
27) Scott Forstall designed iOS 7, and left in disgrace
28) the Apple enterprise is too large to contain leaks
29) the Apple enterprise is too large to foster innovation
30) Apple will be kneecapped by the US DOJ
31) Apple will be humiliated by US District Court Judge Denise Cote
32) Apple is arrogance personified
33) Apple fans are delusional and self-destructive morons, susceptible to hype
34) Steve Jobs and the rest of his cohorts flipped off corporate America
35) Steve Jobs and the rest of his cohorts are a bunch of socialist hippies
36) Steve Jobs was a Svengali deluding the innocent with his reality distortion field
37) Steve Jobs was the Pied Piper stealing away our youth through subterfuge
38) Steve Jobs was a dick
39) Steve Jobs was no Thomas Edison
40) Steve Jobs didn’t have the sense to wear shoes, for fuck’s sake
41) Steve Jobs deep-sixed all of our favourite technologies, then lectured us about needing to move on
42) Steve Jobs wasted more resources on getting the Beatles onto iTunes than making iTunes itself work properly
43) Apple didn’t buy enough companies, and allowed the really important acquisitions to fall to Google, Microsoft, and Facebook
44) Apple didn’t heed the advice of corporate activists, and the stock price fell
45) Apple introduced incrementally improved products, and the stock price fell
46) Apple introduced groundbreaking technology, and the stock price fell
47) Apple dug snot out of its nose after hours, and the stock price fell the next day
48) Apple was days late in responding to zero-day exploits that could have erased civilisation as we know it, then was lah-de-fucking-dah about the issue
49) Apple is all talk and no action, indicating an idea hopper and product pipeline as empty as Tim Cook’s unconvincing legerdemain
50) Apple completely ignored the extensive repository of wisdom at MDN that could have saved it from what is clearly impending, inglorious defeat
That flippancy, more than anything, angers and saddens us. We’d expected more personal attention from the one company that personifies personal computing. We really did think of ourselves as something special, for a while. The dream is over.