Baidu today published a report regarding China's Android app distribution platforms. According to the report, the total number of Android marketplace users in China has grown by 27% since the beginning of the year. Baidu claims to have seen an increase of 38% in users of its app distribution platforms (including 91 Wireless and Baidu Mobile Assistant, etc) over this period. The report also revealed that each Baidu app store user on average downloaded 3.1 new apps or app updates per day (vs a market average of 2.9 downloads).
Baidu further revealed in the report that its app distribution platforms have grown to cover 600m Android users, with more than 1m developers working with them. The company also claimed that it has increased download volumes for new apps, thanks to improvements in the targeting of promotions, which is in turn backed by its leading technology in big data analysis.
While growth of the app store market still seems quite robust, we are cautious of the potential for slowdown due to the fact that penetration rates have already reached relatively high levels. Big players such as Baidu and Tencent may boast better performance in a market with moderating growth and intensified competition given their clear competitive advantages. We believe both players for instance to be spending quite heavily in the area of app pre-installations
