As Arabic becomes ‘cool’ in the region, the demand for content in the local language has also increased. Combine this with the growth of mobile, and a clear trend seeing Arabic apps emerges. According to a recent On Device Research survey, UAE has the highest percentage of smartphone users who download more than five apps or more in 30 days period. Games and social media app were the most popular with 60 per cent downloading gaming apps.
The survey was conducted amongst smartphones users in UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, KSA and Jordon. UAE stood highest with 70 per cent of the mobile users downloading both paid and free apps.
The survey also released figures on the paid apps download where 51 per cent of Saudis in KSA said that they downloaded paid apps. The next to follow was Lebanon and UAE at 41 per cent, Jordon at 35 per cent and Egypt at 32 per cent. Also 39 per cent of people said that they would make a one-off payment within an app to avoid advertising.
“In our online research, we found that mobile users downloaded apps that were more utility related and made their lives easier. Amongst women mobile users, apps like shopping, travel and education were the highest downloaded,” reflected Nader Kobeissi, Managing Director of On Device Research, MENA.
One of the key findings was that consumers, who pay for apps once, are also willing to use in-app purchases. However, one of the challenges is trust and privacy issues.
“The survey also showed that 22 per cent of mobile consumers don’t purchase apps due to trust and privacy issues. In the region, however, we found that consumers don’t purchase as they do not find interesting apps,” said Mr Kobeissi.
In KSA, 35 per cent mobile users said that they were willing to pay for apps and conduct online purchases within a brand or product they are familiar with or engaged with. The region also showed that more than 81 per cent of Saudis were looking to download Arabic apps. The numbers in other regions were 70 per cent in Jordon, 67 per cent in Egypt, 54 per cent in Lebanon and 39 per cent in UAE.
The research also pointed out that people in the GCC don’t download more Arabic apps because they neither find what they want nor are the Arabic apps of good quality.
“We survey high net-worth women in KSA and found that 42 per cent women in the country did not find Arabic apps although they wanted to download it. Hence, apps should focus on discovering such apps and bring in better Arabic content,” stated Mr Kobeissi.
