Mobile Market Country Profile: Germany A Maturing App Superpower

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The mobile market in Germany is in the middle of a consumer behavior shift. Smartphone penetration and app usage have entered the mainstream and digital content consumption on mobile is on the rise, but app payment remains niche. Consumers switching from traditional phone calls and texting to internet voice communication and messaging contribute to the fact that effective monetization of mobile data will be an ever more important revenue driver in German Mobile Network Operator (MNO) strategy. MNOs have an opportunity to play a key role in the future adoption of app spending too, for example via In App Purchase (IAP) credit bundles. Although such involvement will result in higher app spender penetration, stakeholders will risk devaluing in-app products as a result of too much ‘feels like free’ availability.

Key Findings:

           of the German population own a smartphone, but only            use apps
• At            million,            has largest number of smartphone            in Europe
• At            million            2014, Germany is also the            mobile app revenue market in           
• App payment            niche with only            of German            paying for downloads or in-app           
           of German app buyers are aged under            and            are male, pointing to the early adopter stages of the sector
• German Mobile            have cumulative access to            million            subscribers, representing            of the population,            carrier billing the widest potential            for mobile content payment
• Effective mobile            monetization will be a key            driver for mobile operators in            future
• Mobile operators            the opportunity to help in-app            towards the mass market by            in-app credit with phone tariffs
• Android’s market            lead in Germany is well            the all-country average 
           of iOS consumers in Germany pay for downloads or in-app purchases, compared to only            of Android consumers

Companies mentioned in this report: T-Mobile, Telefonica, Vodafone, Telekom Deutschland, Telefonica            Apple, Google, uTorrent