A recent study by mobile ad company InMobi (The State of Mobile App Downloads, September 2014) has shown that Asian countries are dominating globally in terms of per-user app downloads.
With nearly five apps downloaded per 100 users, Malaysia topped the chart, followed by Indonesia with more than four. The Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan completed the top five countries for per capita downloads.
In the US, the 2014 US Mobile App Report from Comscore revealed that 52 per cent of mobile digital engagement is now happening via apps. Apps drive the vast majority of media consumption activity on mobile devices, accounting for approximately seven out of every eight minutes, Comscore found.
Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific at the inaugural Adobe Digital Publishing Summit in Singapore, Bogaty said that Asia had forced Abode to rethink its own app software. Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) enables traditional media publishers and businesses to create, publish and market mobile apps.
Although DPS originally served only the iPad, Bogaty said that the Asian market’s heavy use of Android drove the software company to add support for multiple platforms and multiple screen sizes.
“That didn’t come from the US, it was really driven by requirements that we saw in Asia,” he said. “Because there were so many different screen sizes on Android, it made us think about how we were going to get our customers to create content that was going to fit all screen sizes.”
Bogaty said the rise in apps is being driven by the content that brands and businesses are creating.
“Content must be delivered in an engaging, highly interactive way to keep consumers and employees connected with your brand and your message,” he said.
“Marketing is impossible without great content and brands have been delivering amazing content for years. But what has changed is the experience around the content.”
Stephen Hamill, managing director of Adobe Southeast Asia, said the arrival of end-to-end solutions that crossed platforms has opened new opportunities for businesses to connect with their audiences.
“It is an evolution that is sparking business growth and a burst of creativity like we have never seen before.”
Speakers at the Adobe event included Derrick Ho, digital news editor at The Straits Times, who revealed the story behind the development of the Straits Times Star app, which launched in June.
“It’s an experiment in progress,” said Ho, of the 169-year-old brand’s foray into digital publishing. “Interactive is hard. But when it works, it’s so damn fun.”