Distimo Releases Global App Preference Study, Top 10 App Lists

Consumers of mobile apps differ substantially in the apps they prefer depending upon the country they live in, with Japanese and Chinese consumers most likely to download apps published exclusively in their respective countries, according to new research from Distimo.

The Dutch research firm's September study compares global user preferences in mobile app stores for content localization (local apps that are only published in one country) with widely distributed apps that are popular across national and linguistic barriers.

"Content differentiation is most important in Asia," writes Distimo analyst Hendrik Koekkoek, the study's lead author. The research firm, looking at Apple's iPhone App Store, found that 67 percent of the most popular iPhone applications in Japan are popular in that country only, while in China, 56 percent of the most popular iPhone apps are popular only in that country.

Globally, the average of iPhone App Store apps that are popular exclusively in just one country is 27 percent, according to Distimo.

Nokia's Ovi Store had the highest proportion among major app stores of applications published in just one country at 29.4 percent, a number that's skewed significantly by two outsized Nokia app developers in Italy and China's policy of only allowing gaming apps to be published by licensed aggregators KongZhong and Tom Online, and video apps to be published by CNR (those three publishers account for 5,845 Ovi Store apps published exclusively in China).

Other app stores contain just a fraction of country-exclusive apps as compared to the Ovi Store. The percentage of such apps in Apple's iPhone and iPad App Stores, Google's Android Market, and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace ranges from 3.4 percent to 5.2 percent.

Consumers in the U.S. don't match Japanese and Chinese users in terms of a preference for local-only apps, but the size of the U.S. mobile app market means it has the most exclusively published apps, with 7,158 such apps in Apple's iPhone App Store alone.

Distimo also found that popular apps in one country were often popular in other countries sharing the same primary language or that were located in the same region. For example, the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada have an average overlap of top applications of 54 percent.

The research firm also published its lists of the top 10 free and paid apps in various app stores for the U.S. in August. Here's a selection of those results:

Readmore → Distimo Releases Global App Preference Study, Top 10 App Lists

U.S. ITC Agrees to Investigate Apple in Patent Case

The U.S. International Trade Commissions said Tuesday that it will open an investigation of Apple based on an earlier complaint it received from handset maker HTC.

The investigation will cover "certain electronic devices with communication capabilities, components thereof, and related software. The products at issue in this investigation are computers, tablet computers, and smartphones," with Apple named as the respondent.

The ITC's investigation basically means that the agency has agreed to investigate claims brought against both companies by the other, and has not reached a decision on the merits of the case. The latest investigation dates to August 16, when HTC filed suit against Apple and asked the ITC to investigate.

The ITC, unlike the federal court system, has the authority to block or ban imports during an investigation, while courts can only ban products after the defendant is found guilty of infringement, which can take years. In its statement the ITC said it will set a target date for completing the investigation within 45 days.

View Slideshow
See all (6) slides

More

HTC's suit charged Apple with violating three of HTC's mobile patents, specifically a circuit and operating method for integrated interface of PDA and wireless communicating system; multipoint-to-point communication using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; and method for orderwire modulation. It seeks to bar most Apple products from importation, including the the iPhone, iPad, its Macintosh computers, the Apple TV, and the iPod.

On August 9, however, the ITC began investigating Apple's own claim that HTC had infringed its own patents. That investigation refers to a complaint Apple filed with the ITC on July 8, 2011, in which it accused HTC of copying Apple's hardware and software. The ITC appeared to agree, saying HTC may have infringed on two Apple patents.

The patent war between Apple and HTC started in March 2010. At the time, Apple sued HTC for 20 instances of patent infringement, all dealing with various elements of the iPhone. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said at the time. "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman.

Readmore → U.S. ITC Agrees to Investigate Apple in Patent Case

Smartphone Samsung S2 Galaxy sprayed Sales Records

Well, it did not last long. Samsung has released the latest batch of sales figures for its Galaxy S2 announced Android smartphone, and the unit remains the fastest smartphones in the enterprise more and more. 

According to Samsung, the Galaxy S2 officially 10 million in sales every five months after the device hit the market launch worldwide in April this year. Sales in South Korea to take the lion's share of the total to 3.6 million, with European markets almost 3.4 million. 

Sales of smartphones in Asia hit a total of 2.3 million euros. "In just five months, the Galaxy II has experienced phenomenal growth, its enormous popularity among customers worldwide, through the selection of the galaxy S2 as a device of choice for the position of strong market unit have worldwide, "said JK Shin, president of Samsung's mobile communication division, in a statement. Previous sales figures of the galaxy S2 sold three million units in just 55 days on the market, smashing sales records of the company at the time. 

In fact met the Galaxy S2, the figure of three million every 30 days faster than the previous Galaxy smartphone Samsung device. Total sales of Galaxy S2, then ballooned to five million mark in 85 days. It remains to be seen how U.S. sales, Samsung will boost the whole. The Galaxy S2, as the touch screen Epic 4G renowned set sales through Sprint on September 16th at a price of about $ 200 (with a service contract for two years nine) or $ 500 without. AT & T variant simply called the Samsung S2 Galaxy will be available the second October for $ 200 (even with a service contract). 

T-Mobile has announced no release date yet for release, but it is expected that the company is to speak with a Galaxy S2 imminent departure in publishing Monday of each event. and Verizon? Interested V erizon users have little choice to mark a galaxy S2 official: The company said it had no intention, the release has its own version of the smartphone . "We have a large portfolio of clients a wide range of devices including the Samsung Droid Shop," a spokesman for Verizon said in August. 

Samsung Droid Prime Minister, the first smartphone using Android 4.0 or ice cream sandwich is executed, it is expected that Verizon is the leading portfolio of Android phones in the absence Galaxy S2. For David to feed on Facebook. David Murphy

Readmore → Smartphone Samsung S2 Galaxy sprayed Sales Records

Apple logos in backdrop for Samsung in-store display

Makes you wonder if there's also Motorola and HTC logos hidden by the display...

Without a fantastic investigative journalism budget that would allow me to fly to the Italian store in question on the company jet on a moment's notice, I'm left to assume one of three things has happened here:

1. The display was left over from another mobile promotion and only truly nitpicky geeks like us and the folks at All Things D would ever dream of making an issue about a few little icons that only the aforementioned geeks would ever recognize anyway.

2. Samsung has a terribly backward understanding of the meaning of the term "product placement."

3. Samsung is stalking Apple. It has Korean factories making nothing but black turtlenecks and jeans. It also has that Safari icon tattooed on its buttocks. And sometimes it just slips up.

You can decide for yourself what the most likely explanation is, but Samsung doesn't have a great track record here. Back in 2008 it let it slip that a version of Safari was going to be coming to one of its old-school Symbian phones. Turns out they meant "s60 safari," which is a different browser based on some of the same components as Apple's browser, but it still belies the company's apparent ignorance of the concept of a trademark.

Well, at least one mystery may have been solved here. Perhaps we now know what became of the errant promotional backdrops for those s60 safari phones.

Readmore → Apple logos in backdrop for Samsung in-store display

Groupon slashes reported revenue by half, COO exits after 5 months

Groupon, until recently, was the daily-deals darling.

But according to The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago-based company is slashing its reported revenues by half--from $ 713.4 million in 2010 down to $ 312.9 million--in accordance with accounting revisions prompted by the SEC. What's more, after only five months on the job, Groupon's second COO of the year has quit.

Groupon was recently compelled to change its accounting practices after discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Valued at $ 20 billion, Groupon was on track to move forward with a $ 750 million IPO, but in June it was revealed in S-1 filings that it had nearly $ 400 million in net losses, which triggered an intense backlash, widespread doubts about its business model, and SEC scrutiny.

Apparently, Groupon had characterized "revenue" as the full price of a sold daily deal. But the company failed to disclose the 50-50 revenue-share, or portion of sales, that was paid to local merchants for offering the daily deal.

This accounting error compelled Groupon to restate its previously issued Consolidated Statements of Operations for 2008 through 2010. "Historically, the Company has reported the gross amounts billed to its subscribers as revenue. All prior periods have been restated to show the net amount the Company retains after paying the merchant fees."

Margo Georgiadis, Groupon's second COO to leave this year, is returning to Google, her previous employer. Rob Solomon bowed out as Groupon's COO after two months in the position. These high-level executive departures prior to a company IPO certainly raise concerns among investors.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that LivingSocial, Groupon's closest competitor, is reconsidering its $ 100 million IPO. Bloomberg has reported that LivingSocial is in talks to raise $ 200 million for a valuation of $ 6 billion. An IPO, postfunding, is reportedly still an option.

Readmore → Groupon slashes reported revenue by half, COO exits after 5 months