Distimo released a new report, this time focusing on global differences in content distribution, including content localization (local apps that are published in one country only), and differentiated user preferences around the world. Without further ado, here are the major findings:
- Consumers around the world have very different preferences for apps. Globally, an average of 27% of the most popular applications is popular exclusively in one country in the Apple AppStore for iPhone.
- The Nokia Ovi Store has by far the highest proportion of applications published in just one country (29.4%); however the proportion of applications that is popular in just one country is not very different from other stores.
- United States is the country with the most exclusively published apps, with the total number of applications published in the local Apple AppStore for iPhone alone counting 7,158 titles.
- The most popular applications in the United States are similar to other countries: only 19% of the most popular apps in the Apple AppStore in the US are popular in the US only.
- Unsurprisingly, content differentiation is most important in Asia: 67% of the most popular applications in Japan are popular in that country only in the Apple AppStore for iPhone. The same is true in China where 56% of the most popular applications in the Apple AppStore for iPhone are popular only in that country.
- There are also “blocks” of countries that share a high number of overlapping top applications. These blocks are within the same region or share the same primary language in most cases. For instance – US, UK, Australia and Canada have an average overlap of top applications of 54%, compared to a storewide average of only 33%.
Distimo’s report covers Amazon Appstore, Apple AppStore for iPad, Apple AppStore for iPhone, Apple Mac AppStore, BlackBerry App World (phones), BlackBerry App World for PlayBook, GetJar, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, and Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. You can download it free of charge from here (PDF download).