Retaining its previous year position, Whatsapp, a US-based messaging app, has once again become the most downloaded application on Google Play Store in a country of 1.3 billion citizens, whereas Truecaller, a utility dailer app, out ran Facebook, which was at second position last year.
According to the Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2017 report, Truecaller has delivered more than 100,000 clicks in a day to in-app advertisers. In the top download list, Whatsapp contineus to be on the top, followed by Facebook Messenger and ShareIt. China’s ALibab owned UC Browser slipped down to sixth.
Truecaller, mainly identifies spam calls and helps keep mobile communication safe and efficient. Recently, Truecaller announced two new major features in Truecaller 8, a completely new redesign of its Android app.
Speaking about the Truecaller recent growth, Tejinder Gill, vice president, Sales and Head of India Operations, said that their biggest strength is the engagement and undivided attention we can provide to advertisers. We can deliver a brand’s message and enable them to stay on top of the consumer’s mind simply by the fact that we are not an ‘appointment viewing’ app. This is proven by the fact that over 70 per cent of our advertisers are repeat customers, which assures us of the efficacy of our platform,” Gill was quoted as saying to IANS.
Barging into digital payment market, it also launched Truecaller Pay, where Android users in India can send or receive money securely over their mobile phone. WhatsApp too had announced in April this year, to enter Indian market for digital payment and use UPI, a cross-bank payment system backed by the government, to enable payments between users within the next four months. With home grown Paytm in the space, Truecaller and Whatsapp with their growing active users will foster stiff competition.
Only two Indian apps in top ten
Among the top ten apps, maximum four apps belonged to USA whereas China and India had two apps each. India’s entertainment apps, Hotstar and JioTV managed eighth and ninth positions respectively.
Indian users spend the most time on Android devices. People in India spent nearly 150 billion hours on Android devices in 2016. They’ve also become the biggest downloaders of Google Play apps. India’s netizens have touched 355 million, which remains only behind China, added the report.
