Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Line and Snapchat et al to top 1.4bn users by year end
Mobile phone messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Line and Snapchat are set to extend their reach to more than 1.4bn consumers in 2015, up 31.6 per cent on last year, according to eMarketer’s first ever global survey of the sector.
Illustrating the sectors rise to dominance, eMarketer pointed out that three quarters of all smartphone users will use a mobile messaging app at least once a month in 2015, a trend set to continue unabated through to 2018 – when it is projected 80 per cent of smartphone users will utilise such services, equivalent to 2 billion consumers.
Cathy Boyle, senior analyst, mobile, said: "Some of the key drivers of mobile messaging's growth identified include consumers'; growing interest in intimate forums for social sharing, the multiple modes of communication offered by messaging apps and the growing number of features offered, including peer-to-peer payments and mcommerce.”
Global figures mask regional variations however with 58 per cent of messaging app users concentrated in Asia-Pacific