2. Main Findings
The exponential growth of the mobile Internet industry during 2012 resulted in a total of 245
million active users, with monthly app sessions increasing by more than 16 times and monthly
app session length growing by a factor of 12.
In 2012, the average total time and frequency a user spent using apps increased in all app
categories. For instance, the average time spent daily on video apps had grown 259%. Users
watched more videos for longer on their mobile devices.
Social networking became a key element in mobile apps. Apps that allowed for sharing on social
media had users that were more “sticky” and at least 3 times more active.
Males preferred music, video, adventure and board games while women enjoyed photo
management, e-commerce and casual games.
Users loved to share information on social media late at night with a peak close to midnight.
Content was shared at the same rate by both males and females.
While the release of iOS 6.1 saw an increase in the number of jailbroken phones, in general there
was still a reduction in the proportion of jailbroken devices compared with the previous year.
Chinese users were slow to upgrade their operating systems compared to their non-Chinese
counterparts, mainly due to the higher percentage of iOS jailbroken phones and the fact that the
newest Android version was not released across all platforms.
*Devices refer to active devices covered by UMENG platform that has activated at least one app session within the stipulated time frame.
4. Rapid growth of China’s mobile Internet market
At the start of the 2012 the number of new Android and iOS activations was 9.2 million a month.
This has grown rapidly, particularly in the last half of the year to a staggering 33 million new
activations a month by year end. Annotation: new activated iOS devices, new activated Android
devices
New device activations by month in
3500
3000
2012
iOS
Android
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
5. Mobile app usage frequency rose 16 times, app session length grew 12 times
The number of mobile app sessions in December 2012 was 16 times that of January 2012, while
app session length was 12 times that of January 2012. Smart phone use has become ingrained into
our daily lives.
Monthly app sessions increased
Monthly app session length
every quarter in 2012
increased every quarter in 2012
12 X
16 X
6X
7X
3X
2X
Jan
Apr
Jul
Dec
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Jan
Apr
Jul
Dec
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
6. Rapid rise of Chinese app developers venturing into international market
More Chinese app developers were choosing to take on the international market. In 2012,
the number of overseas users rose by 720%. Incredibly, it even surpassed the number of
Mainland clients in November 2012.
Growth in new overseas devices every
quarter in 2012
14000
iOS
12000
Android
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
2012Q1
2012Q2
2012Q3
2012Q4
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
8. The amount of time an individual user spent on a video app grew by 259%
In 2012, users were increasingly reliant on their apps, with escalation of total time spent and higher app
frequency rates for every app category. The most extraordinary growth was in video apps, with 24%
increase in app usage frequency rates and average time spent daily grew by 259% from 9 minutes to an
astonishing 31 minutes. Users were getting used to watching longer videos on their mobile devices.
The user frequency rate of system tools apps had gone down by 21% as more of such apps got integrated
into the phone at the manufacturer stage as the featured app. This allowed more users to view content
related products. One interesting trend observed was the growth in user frequency rates of reading apps
by 114%, and yet the session length dropped by 6%, implying that mobile users preferred to view shorter
content.
Main category user behavior change
app session length per user per day
300%
200%
video
100%
system tool
0%
-150%
-50%
-100%
50%
150%
game
photo management
reading
-200%
-300%
app usage frequency per user per day
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
9. Women preferred photo management and e-commerce apps
There was no gender split on iOS system, while there were more males using Android at 55.3%.
Different sexes had distinctive preferences over different apps such as games, e-commerce, video,
entertainment, music and photo management. 68% - 75% of users using e-commerce apps were
females while photo management apps had around 60% of its users being females. On the other
hand, music and video apps were more attractive to male users.
Android user distribution by gender
Male-Female ratio by app category
Male
Female
44.7%
Male
55.3%
iOS user distribution by gender
Female
iOS entertainment
Android entertainment
iOS games
Android games
iOS music
Android music
iOS photo
Android photo
Female
49.9%
Male
50.1%
iOS video
Android video
iOS e-commerce
Android e-commerce
50%
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
10. Males favored adventure and card games while the ladies preferred casual games
In games, no matter which game category, there were observed preferences between genders.
More males play adventure, board and card games, reaching 70% in these apps. On the other
hand, 66% of the casual and trivia game players were females.
In addition, up to 65% of the educational, family and kids game apps were made up of females.
Hence we deduced that children normally used their moms’ mobile devices. Mothers played a
larger role in entertaining their kids in the family.
User preference for game apps (by gender)
Male
Female
Adventure
Action&Arcade
Strategy
Role Playing
Simulation
Racing&Sports&Music
Board&Card
Puzzle
Educational&Family
Casual&Trivia
50%
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
11. Uses most social in bed! Midnight peak in app content sharing on social
networks
The peak timings when users shared their app contents to social network were between lunch
break 12-2pm and after 12 midnight.
In addition, there were 2 groups of users who routinely shared app content. The professional
typically shared during work hours (9am and 2pm) and 8pm after dinner, while the students
shared after lunch at 1pm and after school between 6-8pm.
24 hr distribution trend of
Different user groups share
app content sharing on
at different timings
social networks
Professional
Student
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
22:00
20:00
18:00
16:00
14:00
12:00
10:00
8:00
6:00
4:00
2:00
0:00
22:00
20:00
18:00
16:00
14:00
12:00
10:00
8:00
6:00
4:00
2:00
0:00
7.0%
6.0%
5.0%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
12. Users who shared content to other users within the apps were more engaged
and active
Normally, users with social media sharing habits are very active app users; these users typically
accessed their apps 3.5 times more often and used those apps 3.8 times longer compared to
users who do not engage in social media sharing. Thus developers should provide more
engaging services that participate in social media sharing increase app usage.
Daily average app usage
Daily average time spent
frequency per user
on app per user
3.8X
3.5X
users without social
users with social media
media sharing habits
sharing habits
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
users without social users with social media
media sharing habits
sharing habits
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
14. Distribution of iOS devices in 2012
Among the iOS devices, iPhone distribution hovered between 74% to 82%, reaching its highest
at 82% when iPhone 5 launched in September 2012.
iPad distribution peaked in December 2012, with market share of 23% amongst the iOS devices.
This was probably due to the official launch of iPad 4 and iPad Mini in China during then,
drawing more sales of the iPad.
iOS device distribution in 2012
iPad
iPod
iPhone
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
15. iPad is dominate tablet market in China
After iPad Mini and iPad 4 were officially launched in China, the market share of iPad Mini
increased by 4% in Q4 2012 to reach 83% share.
The launch of the two new iPads had impacted upon the sales of the Android tablets, expanding
the market share of iPad.
Tablet distribution by month
Tablet distribution (2012 Q4)
iPad Mini
iPad
Android Tablet
100%
17%
iPad
60%
Android
82%
80%
iPad Mini
1%
40%
Tablet
20%
0%
Oct 2012
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Nov 2012
Dec 2012
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
16. Android brand choices in China had become more dynamic
Even though Samsung and HTC were leading the Android device brands, their market share had
fallen from 53% in 2011 to 32%. Despite having the highest global sales, Samsung still faced much
competition from local Chinese brands. The rise of Lenovo, Coolpad, Xiaomi, OPPO and many local
brands, coupled with many other smaller Android brands, had caused the Android market to
become more dynamic. Consumers were literally spoilt for choices in 2012.
Android brand distribution 2011 Q3
3%
3%
2% 1%
Android brand distribution 2012 Q4
3%
Samsung
Samsung
HTC
6%
28%
HTC
21%
Motorola
Lenovo
28%
Huawei
ZTE
8%
Huawei
ZTE
11%
Sony Xperia
Lenovo
9%
LG
12%
25%
Meizu
Coolpad
Others
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Xiaomi
3%
4%
Coolpad
7%
4%
5%
5%
5%
7%
Motorola
Sony Xperia
OPPO
Others
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
17. Top 10 Android tablets in 2012 Q4
In 2012 Q4, there were 3 Lenovo and 4 Samsung tablets in the top 10 ranking. Lenovo and
Samsung were the top brands in China’s Android tablet market.
Samsung Galaxy Tab, Lenovo Pad A1, Ainol Novo 7 Advanced and Telcast P76 were already in the
top 20 Android tablet list in 2011 and all through the year of 2012. This showed the continued
popularity of these 4 models. Even though there were many Android tablet models in the
market, only a few truly and continually attracted users. Umeng looks forward to newer Android
products that would provide delightful user experiences.
Top 10 Android models of 2012
IdeaTab A2107A-H
8.6%
Lenovo IdeaPad A1
6.7%
Samsung GT-P3100
5.9%
Samsung Galaxy Tab
5.8%
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
5.7%
Ainol novo7Advanced
5.3%
Lenovo Pad2207
4.2%
EBEN T6
4.2%
Samsung GT-P6200
4.1%
Telcast P76
3.7%
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
18. New iOS and Android versions expanded their market share
Released in September 2012, iOS 6.0 quickly expanded its market share to reach 52% by January
2013.
Android also released its newest version in 2012. The new Android 4.0 reached 34% by January
2013 and Android 4.1 had increased to 6%.
Distribution of iOS version
6.0
5.1
5.0
Distribution of Android version
others
4.1
80%
4.0
2.3
2.2
others
80%
60%
60%
40%
40%
20%
20%
0%
0%
Jul
2012
Aug
2012
Sep
2012
Oct
2012
Nov
2012
Dec
2012
Jan
2013
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2013
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
19. China users were slower to upgrade their operating systems compared to their
overseas counterparts
Overseas iOS users upgraded their systems faster than Chinese users. In Dec 2012, when 43.4% of China’s
iOS users had upgraded, 68.3% of their overseas counterparts had already upgraded. A large influence on
this trend is the higher number of jailbroken phones in China.
Chinese users are also slower than overseas consumers to upgrade Android OS. For instance 54.8% of
Chinese users are still using Android 2.3 as compared to only 48.8% of the overseas users. This was
probably due to the fragmented nature of the local market, the large number of smaller local
manufactures and the slower role out of new OS across their handset portfolio.
iOS version distribution (Dec 2012)
6.0
9.2%
10.9%
5.1
5.0
others
6.0%
4.7%
21.1%
2.3
4.0
1.5%
3.6%
2.3%
7.9%
2.2
4.1
2.1
others
2.1%
7.3%
1.4%
7.1%
30.0%
36.5%
68.3%
43.4%
CN
Android version distribution
(Dec 2012)
Oversea
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
33.3%
54.8%
48.8%
CN
Oversea
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
20. fall in the percentage of Jailbroken
5th February 2013, the iOS 6.1 jailbreak solution was announced. Before this, the percentage of
jailbroken handsets in China had already dropped to 27.3% but it increased by 5% again to reach 32.3%
on 16th February 2013. This rate was still 10% lower than that in September 2012.
According to trend observed in the past after jailbreak solutions were released, there would be a slow
increase in the percentage of jailbroken phones, but in general, there was still an improvement in the
acceptance towards non-jailbroken devices, causing a drop in overall percentage of jailbroken handsets.
33.0%
iOS jailbreak trend
(1st – 16th Feb 2013)
32.3%
30.0%
27.0%
27.3%
Jailbroken rates for each iOS
version
5th Feb, iOS 6.1 jailbreak
solution launched
24.0%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Non-jailbroken
Other jailbroken
version
6.x jailbroken
5.x jailbroken
Dec
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
Jan
Feb
Data Source: Umeng Analytics Platform
21. About this report
Definition of terms:
Devices: All devices in this report refer to active devices covered by Umeng platform that has
activated at least one app session within the stipulated time frame.
Release Date:
Mar 2013
Data Source:
Analysis data based on over 100,000 Android and iOS apps from Umeng platform. Data is
taken in the entire period of year 2012.
Statement:
Above data belong to Umeng platform. Any use of data can be used for free provided that
Umeng is quoted as the original source.
Contact us : report@umeng.com
22. UMENG Product Overview
Umeng Analytics
Umeng App Analytics Platform is the leading and largest provider of mobile app analytics and
developer services in China. We help app developers to analyse user behaviour, enabling
them to stategize to efficiently distribute and promote their apps. Umeng covers more than
100,000 apps across iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8 platforms.
UMtrack
The lack of an official iOS apps channel analytics tool that is easy to use and provide accurate
data is a constant challenge for iOS app developers. Umeng’s Umtrack provides developers
with accurate analysis of users, helping app developers track their users whom have come
from different channels.
App network
App network is a total solution for app developers that integrates in-house ads, crosspromotion and advertising. It delivers efficient distribution for apps and helps apps to
maximise inventory value, growing the size and value of app users.
23. Umeng, a Beijing-based startup founded in April 2010, offers enterprise-class
analytics, App Network and Social network plugin to over 100,000 apps across iOS,
Android, Windows Phone platforms. Umeng has since raised more than USD10
million from Matrix Partners and Innovation Works.
The team is working around the clock to build better solutions for mobile app
developers.
www.umeng.com
weibo.com/umengcom
report@umeng.com