Nearly 70 percent of smartphone users in Taiwan have downloaded applications to their phones at least once, while users of Apple’s iPhone have a greater tendency to download paid-for applications than those using phones running Google Inc’s Android system, a recent survey showed.
According to a survey conducted by the Taiwan Digital Convergence Development Association (台灣數位匯流發展協會) and Taipei-based appWorks Ventures (之初創投) between Dec. 17 and Dec. 28 among 1,501 people aged 20 and above, 52.8 percent still use traditional feature phones, while 47.2 percent have replaced their old devices with smartphones.
Of the 650 smartphone users polled, 86.1 percent of Apple’s iPhone owners said they had downloaded paid-for applications at least once, while only 69.8 percent of Android smartphone owners said they had purchased applications from Google’s Play Store.
On average, iPhone users had downloaded 32 applications to their phones, while users of smartphones running Android had downloaded 17 applications.
Jamie Lin (林之晨), co-founder of appWorks Ventures, said the dispute between Google and the Taipei City Government over Android apps’ free probation period had meant Android phone users were less willing to purchase apps than iPhone users.
The city government should resolve the case as soon as possible to help Taiwanese app developers regain competitiveness in the market, Lin said, adding that Japanese developers had generated more than NT$10 billion (US$341.2 million) in revenue from their aps.
The survey also showed that up to 68.2 percent of smarpthone users used less than five applications on a daily basis, and by operating system, users of iPhones (which run Apple’s iOS) used seven applications at most, while users of smartphones running Android used no more than five applications on a daily basis.
By category, gaming apps accounted for up to 49.1 percent of paid applications downloaded, followed by social networking apps with 33.8 percent and travel apps with 22.4 percent.
The survey showed users spent NT$363 on financial apps, NT$252 on entertainment apps, NT$238 on e-book or e-magazine apps, and NT$225 on social media apps.
Meanwhile, the survey showed that Samsung Electronics Co is the most popular smartphone brand with a market share of 27.4 percent in Taiwan, followed by HTC Corp (宏達電), with a market share of 26.2 percent. Third in the survey was Apple with 19.8 percent, folowed by Sony Corp’s 9.6 percent, Nokia Oyj’s 2.6 percent and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc’s 2.4 percent.
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