Apple Needs Markets such as India and China to Maintain Growth of Connected Devices
- Staff
- June 12, 2013
A recent report by Flurry indicates that the growth of mobile devices such as smartphone and tablets is slower in the US compare to some other countries.
According to the report a growth of 47% in active smartphones and tablets in the United States between April of 2012 and April of 2013 still puts the U.S. in the bottom 5% of countries for connected device growth in the past year.
“Worldwide, growth of these devices is exploding. To be in the top 5% of countries for growth over the past year, a country’s number of active connected devices needed to more than triple,” according to the report.
The report highlights that the connected device installed base in China grew by 149% between April of 2012 and April of 2013. This was largely attributed to the China’s huge population and largely untapped market.
“We expect these same forces to continue fueling growth in connected device numbers in China, and given the size of the Chinese population, those numbers could add up quickly,” Mary Ellen Gordon, PhD reports for Flurry. “For example, if penetration of smartphones and tablets in China grew to that of Malaysia then 210,507,168 additional connected devices would be added to China’s installed base. We chose Malaysia as a point of comparison because it has a large Chinese population and per capita incomes where China’s are likely to be in the not too distant future.”
In another comparison, Mary Ellen Gordon looked at Canada and India.
Mary Ellen Gordon: “Canada and India provide an even more dramatic comparison. They currently have similarly sized installed bases of smartphones and tablets, but India’s population is 36 times as big as Canada’s. Of course, India’s device penetration won’t catch up to Canada’s overnight, but when India’s rate of penetration equals the current rate in China, then 197,561,626 additional devices will be added to the worldwide installed base. Given India’s connected device installed base grew by 160% in the past year, we don’t think that’s going to take that long to happen.”
“For those keeping count, that means that the world’s number of connected devices will increase by more than 400 million (or about 40%) when the rate of penetration in India reaches the current rate of penetration in China, and the rate of penetration in China reaches the current rate of penetration in Malaysia,” Gordon explains.
She concluded that 100% plus growth year-over-year is the “new normal” in the connective device market and this is clearly not happening in the more developed countries such as US and Canada.
Apple will then need to look for growth in these largely key markets to maintain momentum. Hence, enter the case for a low-cost iPhone.
