The Mobile App Market in Asia and the Story of Korea & China
Keeping the Market Together with Mobile Apps
There are few markets nowadays that are growing as fast as mobile apps. More and more companies are entering this market and the competition is growing. Yet, some areas are more success friendly than the others. Where to go with your mobile app project?
To the Asia Pacific.
The three main countries — Japan, and especially South Korea and China, share an incredibly long history. The first mention of what would then become South Korea actually appeared in Chinese writings from the 7th Century BCE. Through thousands of years of partnership, domination and overall heavy influence on each other, both countries are now standing on their own, vastly different and yet joined together.
Both South Korea and China have a strong presence in many prominent markets, including the mobile application one.
The Innovation
Since the end of the 20th Century, it has been precisely Asia who dominated the technological innovation industry. This goes for areas like the car industry, robotics but also the mobile phone market. The USA might have Apple but Korea has both Samsung and LG, while China has Huawei. It is no surprise that the three biggest players in mobile apps also come from the same region.
The app market has been intensely growing over the past decade or so, with revenues projected to skyrocket to $129.2 billion by the year 2021. It is very likely that these three countries will keep playing a significant role in the rise since they already made up more than half of the total revenue for 2018 — $50.7 billion. China is far in the lead but overall, Asia Pacific is the place to be if you are an app developer.
For all three countries — and especially for Japan, the big drivers are games. The gaming industry has long been associated with Asian countries, think of Japan’s Nintendo or Sega for example. The market reports show that gamers remain the biggest spenders for mobile apps in Japan, accounting for almost half of the total app market revenue.
What about China? With the rapid smartphone adoption, mobile apps are on a quick rise there as well, projecting the revenues to the sky.
The Trouble
Yet, in a way, the relationship between these three markets is entering darker times. South Korea has long been an exclusive trade partner to China, owing more than half of its exports to China. The Korean wave — music and cosmetics especially, have found millions of customers in China, who regularly come to Korea to get their hands on the newest items.
The situation in 2019 got a bit trickier. The US-Chinese complicated relations, lessening demand for Korean items and overall plumb in the Asian market are hurting Korea a lot. Korean exports have been declining each month and the situation might pose a bigger threat to Korean companies trying to reach the previously secure Chinese market.
But that doesn’t mean everything is lost.
Working Together
For Coloproject, teaching the Chinese language to both Koreans and abroad, the declining market might cause some worries but luckily it doesn’t mean the demand for the Chinese language is decreasing as well. Quite the opposite, Chinese has become one of the most sought after languages by non-native speakers. Specifically in South Korea Chinese is having its own little renaissance.
The long-established history between the two countries also means that businesses who help to strengthen this connection can receive support and recognition for their hard work.
For example, in the last week of June 2019 Colorproject team attended a ceremony organized by the Korea Marketing Association to accept the Korea-China Investment Award for not only supporting the Korea-China business relations but for overall great customer service solving their specific needs.
With the new app on the way, the whole team is working hard to live up to the expectations and receiving such support always helps to keep everyone motivated.
And it is also a great excuse to have some celebratory Chinese dinner for the whole company :)
