Japan top apps market as smartphone use catches on

Japan surpassed the United States as the top-grossing market for software applications in October as use of smartphones surged and wireless carriers started billing customers directly for downloads from Google's online store.

App revenue in Japan more than tripled from a year earlier, boosted by games as Google Play closed the gap with Apple's store, defying the trend seen in the rest of the world, according to a report from researcher App Annie.

Downloads were also boosted by NTT Docomo, the country's largest mobile-phone operator, which began offering the iPhone in September.

Japanese consumers are quickly adopting smartphones, after lagging behind other markets, with 42 per cent of the population using the devices this year, compared with 28 per cent last year. That proportion was expected to jump to 62 per cent next year, outpacing the 50 per cent penetration rate estimated for the US, App Annie said.

"Japanese are accustomed to spending money on mobile phones," said Hiroshi Naya, an analyst at Ichiyoshi Research Institute.

Consumers have traditionally relied on cash rather than credit cards for purchases. In 2011, Google introduced carrier billing with Docomo, KDDI Corp and SoftBank Corp that allowed apps downloaded through Play to be added to customer phone bills which helped spark downloads, App Annie said.