App store analytics firm Distimo is announcing a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based digital marketing and internet data provider interarrows in order to launch a version of Distimo’s service in Japan. The new service, live now at Distimo.jp, aims to target what the company called a “hotbed of developer activity” in Japan. Citing several top Japanese players including GREE, DeNA, NHN (NAVER Japan), SEGA and Capcom, Distimo explains that Japanese companies are in need of more than just localized analytics – they are now competing on the world stage.
Japan is a crucial market for mobile app distribution and is the second largest country in the world in terms of app monetization from the leading app stores, Distimo says, citing its own internal data. The U.S. is the top market. And, in terms of the overall download volume of applications, Japan ranks third. (You can probably guess which market ranks second.) Despite Japan’s ability to generate revenue for app publishers, to date, most of Japan’s smartphone business is currently being done inside the Japanese market.
Distimo, which provides data from the Apple App Store, Google Play, BlackBerry App World, GetJar, Nokia, the Amazon Appstore, Samsung App Store, and Windows Phone Marketplace, will now begin offering Japanese firms insights that will help them with the creation of their multi-national strategies. The data includes things like app store overviews, top category breakdowns, top publishers and app, download volumes, pricing, and business models. It also offers estimated download volumes and revenues for each app in major app stores.
Through the new partnership, Distimo will now offer “multi-country” packages by region, which will help Japanese developers target new markets. For example, the “U.S. and EU5” package includes Apple App Store and Google Play data for the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain. An “Asia” package includes the same for China, Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Under the terms of the new agreement, interarrows will sell Distimo’s app store data to Japanese companies using its application business and marketing services.