In recent times Japan has seen a substantial shift from feature phones to smartphones powered by iOS, Android and other platforms. This obviously meant that users got access to a wide variety of applications that are available on each and every platform. The smartphone trend has caught on quite quickly in The Land of the Rising Sun, with Apple clearly dominating the local market. That said, app analytics firm App Annie has released a new report saying that Japan has overtook the U.S. based on sheer app revenue, spending 10 percent more than the U.S.
This is a significant improvement, considering the fact that just last year, Japan was spending 40 percent less on mobile apps as compared to the U.S. Two reasons are believed to be behind this increase, first the fact that smartphone adoption in the country has jumped from 28 percent to 42 percent in just one year and the second being interest in mobile games. GungHo Online and Sega, who are both game publishers, are said to be the biggest drivers of app sales in Japan. Moreover, given Android’s footprint in the country, Play Store sales were able to match App Store sales in the country. App Annie expects that smartphone sales in Japan will grow in the coming year as well, possibly reaching beyond 60 percent penetration in the entire cellphone market.