Highest iOS Penetration Found in Singapore. Indonesia Among the Lowest
In the updated developer terms of use, Apple has clearly banned developers from using or giving data access to third party service providers namely – AdMob. So, in what we can safely say as one of the last reports on iPhone users by AdMob, there are some interesting insights to be gleaned from country-based metrics on the number of iPhone and Android devices. Note that the data provided in the report, includes the device that has generated at least 1 ad request in the AdMob network and also for all countries with greater than 10,000 iPhoneOS or Android devices in April 2010. The report provided interesting insights into the mobile dynamics of some of the South-East Asian countries – importantly, Singapore and Indonesia.
Singapore with it’s tiny 4 million population has 402,992 iPhones, 76575 iPod Touch and 1,453 iPad’s totaling 480,950 iOS devices. Contrast that to its counterpart, Android devices total up to 32,918. While considering the fact that, iPhone had a head-start in the Singapore market for a year before the first Android device was released, the sheer ratio of iPhone to Android is among the highest across countries.
This means that Singapore has over 8% penetration rate for iPhone which is the highest compared to any other countries from the AdMob data. Compare that to iPhone numbers in Indonesia which totals up to 68,841 – a dismal penetration rate of only 0.003 %. According to the ROA group, Indonesia is predicted to be the third largest mobile market in Asia after China and India. Compared to 10.5% of internet penetration, Indonesia boasts of a massive 52 % mobile penetration.
The Jakarta Globe carried an interesting article on why Blackberry is still the popular smartphone in Indonesia as the iPhone can only be bought at a premium. It is sold exclusively by Telkomsel for $700-$800 (from around $1,000 to $1,200 after the initial launch), complete with a 500 MB data plan that tends to leak for no apparent reason. It also has a pitiful package for voice calls, SMS and tethering, and there is little in the way of marketing, meaning there is little reason for Indonesians to make the switch.”
Comparatively, in countries like Thailand and Vietnam Apple has 21% and 46% of iOS share respectively. It’s interesting to note how Indonesia is radically in contrast to its neighbours. To get a glimpse into the Southeast Asian market share for various handsets and platform, you can read the full report here.
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