Tuesday 24 April 2012

Tracking The App’s Spread Worldwide - The Rise Of Instagram

The just can’t stop analyzing the Instagram success story, which month, it’s app store analytics firm Distimo’s use take a crack at it. The organization, which typically releases reports revealing notable mobile app and app marketplace trends, has turned its focus towards the rise of Instagram. In its latest report, Distimo checked out how Instagram became successful, the way it spread across the world, the way the app’s usage compares to the number of downloads it received and more.


Instagram was launched in regards to a year and a half ago, in October 2010. At the time, Distimo says the app was seeing under 10,000 downloads per day in the U.S. However, by April 2012, Instagram was generating well over 100,000 downloads per day within the iTunes App Store within the U.S.


Using data from real-time photo internet search engine Skylines along with its own, Distimo charted the app download increases from May 2011 to April of this year, and found the cumulative downloads of Instagram were about 7 times higher in March 2012 compared to May 2011. Instagram shares on Twitter had also increased a lot more than 12 times - a metric that matters much more than downloads to some degree, because it points to active users and also the average quantity of shares per user increasing.


After the release of the Android app and the Facebook acquisition, Instagram downloads increased being around eight times greater than in May 2011. Shares also spiked to improve more than 20 times over May 2011.


Distimo then examined the way the app fared outside the U.S. by analyzing trends within the top non-U.S. markets: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and also the U.K. Combined with U.S., which alone makes up about 25% from the free downloads within the App Store for iPhone, these countries generate around 72% of the free app downloads.


Interestingly enough, Instagram isn't equally successful in all these markets. It took Instagram just one day to achieve the number one position in the Photography category within the App Store for iPhone in the U.S., however it took it over a year and a half in Korea and nearly two months in China. The reason for the slower rise is that these markets showed a preference for apps like Instagram, but that allowed sharing to local networks like Sina, QQ Space and me2day.

Instagram never reached the very best 300 apps list one day post-launch in China and Korea, and in Germany it only made it to position #288 one day post-launch, then disappeared off the top 300 list for any week.
In English-speaking countries, however, the app followed exactly the same general course because it did within the U.S. It rose in popularity during the first month, drizzled with December 2010, then rose again gradually during 2011, eventually becoming the most popular app within the whole iTunes App Store.


During March and April 2012, Instagram hasn't been ranked lower than the top 35 overall app in English-speaking countries. Around australia, the U.S. and Canada, it never dropped out of the top 25 during the same time.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Instagram followed the same general pattern as with the U.S. over the past year, but in France, Germany, China and Korea, it lagged behind in popularity in comparison with the U.S. Instagram continues to be fairly popular car period in Japan, but its popularity grew less there over the year of computer did elsewhere, with its average monthly rank between 35 and 85.


In Japan, Italy and Australia, Instagram became a top ten app within a month of its launch. In Germany, the U.S. and Canada, it took around 350 days. As soon as it reached that spot coincided with when Instagram announced it reached 10 million users. Twitter sharing had also increased, with over 200,000 pictures posted to the network in one day via Instagram - 14% more than a week prior.


In China, Instagram never made it in to the top 10 position. The highest it's been there's #12, so it reached on April 11, 2012.
Some of Distimo’s report looks into iTunes trends, Instagram did launch on Android on April 3, 2012. When Google’s algorithm began ranking the app a few days post-launch, it had been already a millionaire. By April 6, it was #3 in the U.S. Google Play store. Similar to iPhone trends, the app was most popular in the U.S. and less popular in Korea and China. It never made the top 300 in Korea and ranked #48 in China. In all English-speaking countries and Italy, Instagram reached the #1 spot in days as well as in France, the Android version became accepted the iPhone version, reaching spot #9. In Germany, however, Instagram only reached #51.


The industry, media, pundits, and critics alike happen to be analyzing Instagram’s phenomenal rise in the last months, and debating whether it was well worth the $1 billion cost Facebook paid. Distimo says Instagram certainly “made its mark on the app market,” noting also that Instagram is really a new type of social networking Body built entirely from an app. That alone was sufficient cause for Facebook to consider interest, we’d say. Adds Distimo: “Instagram definitely proved the app store economy is something everybody ought to keep track of because the next big thing could come from an app store.”