Russia: 2nd Fastest Growing Country for iOS Apps

 

According to a report by Distimo, the top 5 fastest growing countries in terms of iPhone apps revenue are namely Japan, Russia, China, Taiwan and Thailand. While most developers should be aware of the booming markets in Japan and China (we’ve already discussed the strong growth in Asia in a previous blog post), Russia, being the 2nd fastest growing country with a strong year-on-year growth of 115%, is definitely a market that developers should keep an eye on.

It is worthwhile to note that the strong revenue growth is not only limited to the iPhone market. App revenues in Russia surged as well for iPad and Google Play. For instance, Russia is now the seventh largest country for iPad in terms of revenue generated and revenue from Google Play has increased 250% in Russia – more than twice of the growth in the US.
The Freemium Model is a Success in Russia

The freemium model is proven to be a success in the US – 66% of revenue coming from the top 200 highest grossing iPhone apps is generated by freemium apps (i.e. free apps with in-app purchases). The freemium model is similarly successful in Russia with more than 50% of revenue of the top grossing iPhone apps being generated by freemium apps. Thus, if you are planning your monetization strategy, freemium apps might be your way to go for Russia.

 

Localization is the Key to Capture the Russian Market

In Russia, although only 4% of iPhone apps are available in Russian, more than 70% of revenue is generated by apps available in Russian, indicating a strong preference for localized content.

So if you are keen to get a piece of the lucrative Russian market, localize your app!

This post is written by OneSky, a translation management platform specifically designed for mobile apps and websites. Find out more.

 

Amanda Wong

Amanda heads Customer Success at OneSky. Her interests include growth hacking, customer success, analytics or simply anything related to growth.

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