Among the Nordic countries, Denmark would rank only below Sweden, in terms of smartphone usage among people. According to a survey conducted in the second quarter of 2015, nearly 78% of the population in Denmark owned one or more smartphone(s), with a further 21% people having tablets (the corresponding figures were 82% and 18% in Sweden for the same time period). In what follows, we will highlight certain important facts and figures that are pertinent to the development of mobile applications in Denmark:
- iOS apps rule the roost – Till the end of 2014, it was a close fight. In 2015, iOS has pulled ahead though, and currently has over 61% of the smart device market share in the country. This is a jump of around 12% over the market share figure in 2014 Q4. iOS’ gain has been Android’s loss (not surprisingly) here – with Google’s mobile platform losing around the same 12% of the market share. It can be easily concluded that iPhone apps in Denmark are more popular than Android (or any other OS, for that matter) applications.
- Mobile is the preferred medium for accessing the web – Approximately 81% of the total number of internet-users in Denmark owns a smart device (phone and/or tablet). A recent study conducted by IAB Denmark also revealed that most of these people used their handsets to log on to the World Wide Web on a regular basis. The usage of mobile internet has jumped by more than 7% in the last six months or so, and is expected to grow further in future. Mobile app developers in Denmark, as a result, need to focus on making apps with seamless internet-integration options.
- M-Commerce is a fast-growing segment – And this explains the popularity of mobile shopping apps in Denmark (this trend is present in Sweden and Finland as well). 4 out of every 10 people who purchase things via their smart devices use shopping apps to do so – while a measly 25% use their mobile browsers for the same purpose. With Apple Pay proving to be a success and Android Pay (with Android 6.0 Marshmallow) holding early promise, m-commerce has every potential to show further growth over the next couple of years.
- It’s all Apple in Denmark – With a market share of around 46%, the Apple iPhone is the runaway leader in the mobile market in Denmark (as stated above, the overall market share of Apple is in excess of 61%). Samsung, with a 21% share, comes a distant second – with other Android vendors like HTC, LG and Sony lagging well behind. The success of iPhone 6 helped iPhone sales to surge ahead of that of Android for the first time in 2015 Q1. The iPhone 6S/6S Plus phone-phablet pair are off to a strong start – and it won’t be surprising if Apple manages to open up a bigger lead over Android soon enough.
- The attention span – Another piece of good news for the iPhone app developers in Denmark is the growing average timespan of app-usage by the average users. Every month, Danish people spend a remarkably high 30+ hours with mobile applications of various types. It is always a challenge to make apps that are engaging enough – and it sure seems like that the developers in the country have risen well to the challenge. The high interest among Danish people about apps have helped matters along as well.
- Replacement behaviour trumps adoption behaviour – This, in fact, has led many app development experts in Denmark to infer that the smartphone market in the nation is nearing saturation levels. A market research (involving 384000 users of smartphones in Denmark) revealed a remarkable stat this year – over 16% of the respondents were looking to replace their old phones with new models. This, in turn, means that there is no dearth of early adopters of new flagship phones (iPhones or the latest Android devices) in the country. The onus is on developers to custom their apps for all the latest devices. If this is not done, a significant section of the target audience might be lost.
- People notice in-app ads – Among the popular mobile app monetization methods, placing in-app advertisements is probably the most effective for users in Denmark. Such ads are noticed by over 85% of mobile app users (a more-than-satisfactory stat for the advertisers), and often help in generating business leads and actual sales. Developers have certainly noticed this trend – and at present, nearly 90% of all mobile ad impressions take place within apps. Advertisements on mobile browsers have a sub-10% share.
- Leadership position in the mobile health market segment – For developers searching for new iOS or Android application ideas in Denmark, health & hygiene would be a good pick. The country occupies the top position in Europe in the mobile health (mHealth) market segment, with Finland, Spain and Netherlands taking up the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots respectively. The ranking is attributed on the basis of 6 important parameters – and it has been seen that the Denmark is the most popular country for developers of mobile health apps. Interestingly though, the same report also showed that UK, and not Denmark, has the best market conditions for the mHealth app development industry.
- Mobile search has a big impact – In Denmark, businesses need to be have a strong mobile presence – there are no two ways about it. The effectiveness of mobile search activities vindicate this – with nearly 3 out of every 4 such searches invariably being followed by store visits (virtual or brick-or-mortar). More significantly, app developers in Denmark have noted that a whopping 55% of all mobile searches lead to purchases – and that too, within one hour of the searches. Overall, nearly 30% of searches lead up to an actual purchase – a significant figure in itself.
- Shopping apps are popular among all age groups – Users in the age group of 18-24 are, expectedly, the biggest users of Android or iPhone shopping apps in Denmark. However, the trend has caught on with the senior people as well – with app usage for shopping showing big growth among people in the 45-54 and 55-64 age ranges. In comparison, growth of mobile shopping among users in the 15-24 age group has remained fairly static.
- Mobile purchase of services is growing in a big way – Since 2013, there has been over 51% growth in the purchase of different types of services via mobile devices. Among them, music-streaming and video-streaming services have garnered maximum popularity – giving the iOS and Android developers in Denmark a clear idea of the type of services they can offer to targeted customers via their applications.
- Weekend evenings are the time when mobile interactions are the highest – Several mobile app analytics studies in Denmark have confirmed that people are most likely to perform interactions with mobile apps (including taking actions on basis of in-app ads) on weekends, and within the 5pm-9pm time window. During the development of mobile applications in Denmark and setting up advertising campaigns for them – this figure has to be factored in by developers. Interestingly, there is hardly any mobile action observed (on average) before noon. For mobile advertisers, Saturday is the most productive day of the week.
- iPads are still popular – And so are iPad apps in Denmark. In early-2015, the device share of Apple iPad in the country was estimated at around 8.9% – well over the 3% (approx.) share that the Samsung flagship devices had. This makes it imperative for mobile app companies in Denmark to create customized versions of their apps for the iPad too. The new iPad Pro is likely to give tablet sales in Denmark a further thrust – and iPad apps might become even more in demand.
It has been projected by research analysts and mobile application developers that Denmark is set to become the country with the highest smartphone penetration figure by 2017. With the Danish people increasingly taking to mobile shopping, m-payments, and trying out new apps in general – there is immense potential for developers in this market. Mobile apps for business are growing in importance too (last year, nearly 40% of all purchases via smart devices were canceled since the websites of the concerned vendors were not mobile-optimized). For mobile app startups, Denmark (like Sweden) is a lucrative market – all that they have to do is understand the tastes, needs and behaviour trends of users, and create apps accordingly.
Hussain Fakhruddin
CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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