Originally a novelty, apps have now become a serious business. In order to best understand how quickly mobile applications, or apps revolutionized the digital market consider the following statistics. 7 years ago there was no such thing as apps. Today, the two biggest app download platforms alone, Google Play and Apple’s App Store, offer over 1.5 million different apps. Aside from the sheer number of apps, the revenue generated by them is expected to top $26 billion for 2013.
The main driving force behind revenue driven apps is, of course, gaming. While many of the free apps, such as retail or media applications entice the user to buy related products, gaming apps predominantly have to be purchased. This, however, does not impact their popularity. Angry Birds, and other popular gaming apps transcend physical distance, languages, and cultures and thereby have the potential to become truly global phenomena.
Adding to the popularity of app markets in affluent countries, we’re now beginning to see the same expansion in developing countries. For example, in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, activated devices grew by over 100% through 2013. For the lesser developed- and lesser touted- emerging market countries, the numbers for the same time period were even higher, with some having an activation increase of over 300%. Beyond sheer activation numbers, the amount of time spent on mobile device apps has also dramatically increased- in the US, it has doubled from 66 minutes to 127 minutes per day from 2010 to 2012.
With a continuously increasing and more diverse segment of the global population entering the marketplace for apps, the potential windfall could be massive for not only app-based games, but digital marketing and product placement as well. This opportunity, though, comes with a challenge: as technology advances, apps are becoming more complex, interactive and more social. The key to a more advanced, interactive, and social gaming app lies in its ability to communicate with the user. In a greater sense, the ability of a gaming app to penetrate an increasingly global market will be based on its language skills, i.e. the ability to effectively communicate across multiple languages. The easiest way to assure that these gaming apps are built to connect to users in multiple languages is through utilizing the assistance of a translation company.
EVS Translations is a global service partner to the communications technology sector, with specialist in-house teams ensuring information is conveyed with absolute clarity in any format and any language.
Our app translators and IT specialists can offer you the technical expertise required for multi-language app translation projects.
We can help mobile app developers to successfully bring and position their software applications to a global market.
Call our Atlanta office today at +1 404-523-5560 or send us an email: quoteusa(at)evs-translations.com.
