Among Android smartphone users in the country, Kakao was branded the most popular mobile app maker both in the number of users and the average time of use, boasting a user base of 35 million for all of its mobile services including Kakao Talk, Kakao TV, Kakao Map and Kakao Taxi, according to a survey based on data from last month conducted by mobile app analytics company WiseApp. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jul. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Messaging giant Kakao and search engines Google and Naver are the three largest mobile app makers in South Korea, a new industry report has revealed.
Among Android smartphone users in the country, Kakao was branded the most popular mobile app maker both in the number of users and the average time of use, boasting a user base of 35 million for all of its mobile services including Kakao Talk, Kakao TV, Kakao Map and Kakao Taxi, according to a survey based on data from last month conducted by mobile app analytics company WiseApp.
Google ranked second on the back of its popular mobile apps including Google Maps and YouTube, while its South Korean users spent a total of 260 billion minutes using its apps in June alone.
Naver, one of South Korea’s biggest search engines, ranked third with a strong lineup of mobile apps including Naver Map, and its messaging apps Band and Line.
Kakao users spent a total of 333 billion minutes using the company’s apps in June, while Naver users spent 225 billion minutes during the same month.
In terms of both user base and total usage time, the 25 million who used Samsung-affiliate apps such as Samsung Pay during the month of June helped the company become the fourth largest mobile app maker in the country.
Despite ranking seventh with its user based of 12 million, Facebook ranked fifth in terms of time of use.
One thing in common among the three major mobile app makers is that they all offer portal, messaging, social media, video streaming and map services.
One thing in common among the three major mobile app makers is that they all offer portal, messaging, social media, video streaming and map services. (Image: Kobiz Media)
The survey was conducted on a sample of 23,135 Android smartphone users over 10 years of age across all gender and age groups and locations.
In South Korea, the number of Android-based smartphone users is estimated to be over 37 million.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
