Mobile phone messaging apps will be used by more than 1.4 billion consumers in 2015, up 31.6% from the previous year according to eMarketer. Seventy-five percent of smartphone users worldwide will use an over-the-top (OTT) mobile messaging app at least once a month in 2015. In addition, eMarketer predicts that the number of chat app users worldwide will reach 2 billion and represent 80% of smartphone users by 2018.
According to Cathy Boyle, eMarketer’s Senior Analyst, Mobile, some of the key drivers of mobile messaging’s growth are:
-The growing interest of consumers in intimate forums for social sharing.
-The multiple modes of communication offered by messaging apps.
-The growing number of features offered, including peer-to-peer payments and mcommerce.
On a regional basis, OTT messaging apps usage is high in the Asia-Pacific where 58% of the world’s messaging app population lives. In addition, Latin America shows strong usage with 68.1% of mobile internet users engaging with a mobile messaging app once a month.
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