Tag Archives: Apple

China Exclusive: China ranks top in iOS downloads

China Exclusive: China ranks top in iOS downloads

Stockholm, June 2(Greenpost)– iOS quarterly downloads grew 30 percent between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015, meaning China surpassed the U.S. and is now the world leader in iOS downloads, according to App Annie, a mobile analytics company headquartered in San Francisco.

Danielle Levitas, senior vice president of App Annie, revealed the news at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing on Wednesday.

Download growth translates into iOS App Store revenue gains. From Q1 2014 to Q1 2015, revenue in China grew 90 percent compared to 30 percent in the U.S. and 50 percent in Japan. “China grew more quickly to narrow that gap,” she said.

Earlier this week, Apple released its earnings report, announcing that international sales accounted for 69 percent of the revenue for the quarter, reflecting the high demand in emerging markets such as China for Apple products.

According to Levitas, Apple has dramatically expanded distribution in China. As of April 25, China has 19 Apple Stores across 10 cities, up from just 8 in only Beijing and Shanghai in October 2013.

China boasts the world’s most Internet and cell phone users. There were 649 million Internet users by the end of 2014, and some 557 million used cell phones to go online, official data showed.

“China, a mobile-first country, has seen smartphone exceed PC adoption,” Levitas added, “Chinese consumers want large-screen smartphones with longer battery life.”

Though app stores as a whole are marching forward, contrasts lie in different markets. Levitas highlighted that Android’s Google Play led the Apple’s iOS App Store in app downloads by nearly 70 percent in Q1 2015, while iOS maintained a strong monetization lead, generating close to 70 percent more revenue than Google Play in the same period.

“Emerging markets like Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, and Indonesia were the primary drive of Google Play’s growth,” she explained.

She also predicted that strong growth would continue across emerging markets, especially as Andriod phones below 200 U.S. dollars expand opportunity beyond mature markets.

In terms of categories, games dominated, followed by lifestyle and photo & video, while education is closing in. Education app downloads grew 25 percent on downloads and 35 percent on revenue between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015, according to Levitas.

In Q1 2015, education saw the second highest absolute revenue gain over Q4 2014, after games, ranking among the top five Google Play categories by quarterly revenue.

“It was boosted from language learning apps like Duolingo and Babbel, brain training apps like Lumosity, and MOOC platforms like iTunes U and TED,” she noted. Enditem

Source Xinhua

Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Court details voice recognition patent case involving Apple

Court details voice recognition patent case involving Apple

Stockholm June 2, (Greenpost)–  — Beijing Higher People’s Court explained why it asked a Chinese government agency to review a company’s voice recognition patent validity, which has a dispute with Apple Inc  on April 22.
On Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of Apple for a patent case. It said the voice recognition patent of Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co. Ltd. should be declared invalid and asked the Patent Review Committee under the State Intellectual Property Office to review it.
Jiao Yan, chief judge in this case, told Xinhua that Zhizhen’s patent specification did not explain all technologies used in the invention. According to China’s patent law, specification should allow common technical personnel in related fields to practice the technologies easily.
Meanwhile, Jiao said the patent claims failed to clearly define the limits of exactly what the patent does, and does not, cover.
Apple declined to comment on the court judgement on Wednesday.
The court decision was made after Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled last July against Apple.
The dispute between Apple and Zhizhen dates back to June 2012, when Zhizhen, developer of speech recognition technology Xiao i Robot, filed a case against Apple for alleged infringement of intellectual property rights, claiming that Siri technology violates its patent for “a type of instant messaging chat robot system.”
Xiao i Robot, which began in 2003 as a chat bot for MSN, Yahoo Messenger and other chat programs, has expanded to iOS and Android, where it bears a striking similarity to Siri.
Siri, on the other hand, made its debut with the release of the iPhone 4S in 2011. It was first developed in 2007 by Siri Inc., a start-up company acquired by Apple in 2010.
No verdict was given after trials at Shanghai courts.
At the same time, Apple applied to the Patent Review Committee to invalidate the Xiao i Robot patent. When the committee supported Xiao i Robot, the U.S.-based tech giant followed the administrative appeals process.  Enditem   Source Xinhua

Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson