“China has dethroned the U.S. to become the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue, earning more than $1.7 billion in the third quarter, according to market researcher App Annie,” Dean Takahashi reports for VentureBeat. “Games are the lion’s share of that revenue at 75 percent.”
“The U.S. had been the No. 1 iOS market since 2010. As App Annie predicted in Q1, China’s phenomenal iOS revenue growth rates have driven it to be the No. 1 iOS market by revenue well before year’s end. Not only has this proven true, but China is leading the U.S. by over 15 percent,” Takahashi reports. “In Q3 2016, Chinese consumers spent more than five times the amount they spent just two years prior on the iOS App Store.”
“Revenue growth is expected to continue, with China projected to drive the largest absolute revenue growth for any country by 2020,” Takahashi reports. “New revenue streams such as in-app subscriptions have generated significant growth. As consumer behavior matures, non-game revenue is expected to become a bigger proportion of the overall pie by 2020. In China, non-game apps are led by entertainment, social networking, books, photos, and videos. Those categories tripled this year.”
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MacDailyNews Take: We knew that something big flew right by us. Now we know it was China!
That country (China) has enormous opportunity. There are such an amazing number of people that are moving into the middle class. It’s something like I’ve never seen in my lifetime before. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, February 10, 2015