God created the World and everything else is made in China, or how China is redefining the Future of Digital and beyond?!

As the joke goes, God created the world and everything else is made in China. While a seemingly funny joke and one might laugh, those who live in China over a year or more might find it truthful, especially in IoT, app penetration, number of smartphone users, emerging apps, scale of online transactions, and the e-commerce boom. Simply said, the scale is dazzling!

The 90s was about getting people online; 2000s is about connecting people online using social media. Some say the next step is taking online connections offline. However, in China`s case, the 21 st century is clearly showing the power of China`s digital landscape and its power and impact, some of which I am about to cover below!

App penetration

According to Zolzaya Erdenebileg In 2016, total worldwide downloads from the iOS App Store and Google Play increased by 15 percent, exceeding 90 billion downloads. And, smartphone users spent almost 900 billion hours on apps—an increase of 25 percent from 2015. This global growth was due largely to the movement in China. In fact, China contributed almost 50 percent to the iOS App Store’s annual growth. In the third quarter of 2016, the Chinese market created more than US$1.7 billion in iOS revenue. China now leads the market by more than 15 percent over the next largest market, the US. This command is only expected to grow as internet penetration increases and the Chinese app market continues to mature.

The mobile app market in China is particularly conducive for future growth. Compared to US or UK users, Chinese consumers use more apps on average per month. According to App Annie, an app intelligence firm, the average Chinese consumer uses an average of almost 40 apps per month, while the average American consumer uses about 35. Chinese consumers now spend five times more in the App Store than they did just two years earlier.

App Annie predicts that China will have the largest revenue growth of any country by 2020. Games, the most popular downloads in the third quarter of 2016, made up 75 percent of all revenue. However, entertainment and video streaming apps grew significantly, and mobile shopping apps show great promise. Social networking apps, such as Tencent’s QQ messaging app, also performed well, seeing its largest increase in revenue thus far.

China’s growth in mobile app usage and the bright future of the market is attracting app developers from all over the world. Industry competition is fierce with top international companies targeting the market and strong performance from local teams, as well.

Number of smartphone users

China has more smartphone users than the US, Brazil, and Indonesia combined, according to Business Insider.

The number of smartphones sold worldwide has passed the one billion mark in 2014. More than one third of the world’s population is forecasted to own a smartphone by 2017. China, one of the largest and fastest-growing global smartphone market, with more than 30 percent of the share in 2017, followed by the US with 12 percent.

The current healthy ecosystem in China`s digital, marketplace, app stores, and emerging apps, optimized delivery making it the golden grail for those who are selling to Chinese locally and globally.

A big part of this ecosystem is WeChat`s massive impact and open APIs to sell, integrate bots, offer shops, and even learn, teach, and more. Simply, those who know how to sell to China can greatly benefit from the growing number of smart phone users that can easily access shops online, WeChat (official) accounts, Weibo, and anything else the creative mind can imagine. Former wechat employee Dan Grover`s insightful article can give even better picture and detailed history on how China`s Wechat and other apps UI evolved, click here to learn more...

Mobile payment and China`s untapped potential

In one of my last articles (Nobody knows what happens every minute in China) I looked at the situation from a eMarketer`s point of view. Interestingly, the number of people in China using their phones to pay for goods and services at the point of sale (POS) more than doubled last year, and by 2020 eMarketer projects almost half of all smartphone users will be making proximity mobile payments.

According to eMarketer’s first-ever estimates of mobile payment usage in China, 195.3 million people will be using the technology in 2016—growth of 46 percent over last year.

TechInAsia`s Steven Millward also discussed China`s mobile payment boom and its scale that could be a great gig to look at and to understand China`s potential, Expert Michelle Evans also detailed this trend from her perspective which is good read to have in depth point of this publication.

In conclusion, China has become highly powerful and influential in the digital landscape of the 21 st century (not to mention the economy and politics) across APAC and the globe. Almost every industry has been disrupted by digital technologies over the past decade, and more revolutionary developments are continuing to impact businesses, careers, and lives, below-given video is a great reflection of our times and unlimited opportunities.

Among the groundbreaking moves will be: autonomous car road tests, ecommerce, new socializing media apps, and VR hardware competing with popular gaming consoles. The examples are numerous! For example, the grocery industry is making its move online, creating battle of market places. Mobile wallets are adding value to users not only In China, but also in global context). Insurtech is growing with investments from legacy players and tech giants. Social video is taking 2017 by storm by the likes of Chinese live streaming apps and Snapchat). And many more!

It would be great to hear comments, perspectives, experiences, and critiques from my fellow netizens, professionals and experts in the field.