Head East, Young Apple App Developer, Head East

There's a growing global shift in who downloads from Apple's (AAPL) App Store, according to a new report from app marketplace analysis firm Distimo. As of last month, Asia is on the rise, largely paralleling historic iOS app trends. Western countries, on the other hand, saw either flat or declining numbers of downloads. That means app developers have to reexamine their strategies and see if they've positioned the right products in the right markets.

Here's a heat chart that shows the relative downloading activity in different countries, with the U.S. as the largest market for both paid and free apps:

But China has now become the second largest market in terms of total download volume. And that's just the start. There's been a shift in the dynamics of app downloading growth. Distimo analyst Gert Jan Spriensma had mentioned almost in passing that some Western countries saw a decrease in app download activity. I emailed him and received this response:

Although the volume in many Western countries, like the U.S., is equal to that of December 2010, for a few big ones the volume is significantly lower, like in Germany and France. For almost no Western country the volume was up (certainly not in any large country).

Perhaps May was just slow. But there's the possibility that, no matter how many more apps get uploaded to the App Store, the novelty factor begins to wear off, supplanted by a natural saturation point. That said, Asia still has a lot of room to grow. However, none of this means easy profitability, as the report notes:

The download volumes in Asia increased in general, however, the proportion of paid downloads and the overall revenue still lag behind that of the United States and Europe. Moreover, while in-app purchases became an important monetization method over the last year in many countries, it has not yet in Asia. Thus, developers have to look for other ways of monetization such as advertising.

Here's a graphic view that indicates the percentage of downloaded apps that are paid among the top 300 for each country, and the average price per app (click to enlarge):

As for what type of app to sell, developers will apparently find that in most Asian countries, the break-out is what you might expect from experience in the U.S. (click to enlarge):

However, many Asian consumers want regional versions of software. For example, in China, 65 percent of the most 300 most popular free apps are popular only in that country. The rate skyrockets in South Korea, where 87 percent of free apps and 78 percent of paid are regional favorites.

Related:

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• Most Android Apps Make Almost No Money
• Apple Leads Google in Mobile Apps -- but Maybe Not for Long
• Most Apps in the Apple App Store Will Probably Lose Money

Erik Sherman

Erik Sherman is a widely published writer and editor who also does select ghosting and corporate work. The views expressed in this column belong to Sherman and do not represent the views of CBS Interactive. Follow him on Twitter at @ErikSherman or on Facebook.

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