According to a recent report by eMarketer, the Middle East and Africa is the only region globally which is lagging behind when it comes using mobile internet. The region stands in the minority with just Just 22.7 percent of mobile phone internet users expected to use chat apps in 2017. While this is up considerably from 16.3 percent in 2014, but still far below the other regions and the worldwide average of 66.5 percent.
The appeal of mobile messaging apps continues to spread globally with eMarketer projecting that 1.82 billion people across the globe will use apps like Facebook Messenger and WeChat in 2017, an increase of 15.5 percent year over year.
“A mobile messaging app provides private one-to-one or one-to-many communication between registered users, via a mobile phone number or user ID. Its messages and calls—voice or video—are then transmitted via data connections and the mobile web,” said Cathy Boyle, eMarketer principal analyst and author of our latest report.
While the attraction to mobile messaging apps is a global phenomenon, the bulk of this year’s new users (63 percent) will come from five countries—China, India, the US, Indonesia and Brazil.