According to Dan Virtopeanu, founder of Mobile Marketing Association Romania, on the Romanian market there are over 20 million operational mobile phones, 2.5 million of which are smartphones. The estimates of Nokia Siemens Networks show that the number of smartphones will triple by 2015, to 7.5 million units.
Despite the high number of smartphones, the degree of use of mobile apps is low, with surveys showing that just 20% of the customers download an application, while 70% use the watch and the alarm functions of the phone.
“Romanians download games, navigation apps and utility apps,” Virtopeanu also says.
He says under the circumstances there is a big potential for Romanian mobile apps. “We have five million mobile internet users and 2.5 million smartphone owners. The market is in its early stages and growing. Of the EUR7-7.5 million for mobile advertising, apps account for a small share. Worldwide in 2011 the mobile advertising market reached $14 billion, 50% more than in 2010.”
As for the Romanian apps market, Virtopeanu says Romanian content is needed, given that people are willing to spend money if they like the application or find it useful, but advertising revenues are still too low. At present the promotional costs of an application exceed production costs.
In turn, the manager of the Telecom division of Samsung Romania, Sorin Manea, said smartphone sales in Romania would exceed one million units this year, given the high demand.
“Good news is coming not from producers and operators, but from the market, which has started to demand smartphones increasingly more. As I said before, I expect one million smartphones will be sold on the Romanian market this year, but early-year figures lead me to believe the figure will be exceeded.”
According to Mihai Mafteianu, general manager of Cronian Group, in Romania there isn’t an app market. “When you make a product, you make it in English, Romanians speak English, they have a card attached to the Apple Store and buy the app. I think it’s wrong to view things from a local-market perspective given that the user sees apps worldwide.”
(English version by Daniela Stoican)