Vietnamese spend $100M on mobile app transactions

In its recent report on digital transformation, the ministry said the revenue of online transactions via mobile applications or in-app purchases on iOS devices is 1.5 times higher than those on Androids.

The total revenue on the two platforms reached more than US$100 million in the first five months of the year.

An in-app purchase is a purchase that occurs within an app. Before installing an app, users often see the message “In-app purchases” next to the “Get” button for free apps, or the app price button for paid apps.

The report also shows that the total number of app downloads from Vietnam reached 1.41 billion, of which the number of downloads from Androids accounted for 75%.

The Vietnamese market accounted for 2.2% of global app downloads, slightly down from 3.4% over the same period in 2022.

The ministry report said the majority of applications used by Vietnamese people are from abroad, and domestic apps accounted for only 22%.

The majority of app downloads and spending is on mobile games, the report said.

According to Germany’s Adjust, a mobile analytics company, Vietnam has emerged as a thriving hub for mobile gaming enthusiasts.

An Adjust report released in May said “most players under 24 spend an average of two to three hours daily playing their favorite mobile games and are willing to spend significant amounts of money on in-app purchases to unlock virtual items and additional content.”

Mobile gaming revenue in Vietnam is expected to reach an impressive US$700 million by 2023.

According to Statista, a German online platform, a Vietnamese person spent approximately 6.5 hours using the internet per day in 2021 on average. Out of these, at least three hours of daily internet usage were spent on mobile apps.

In 2022, the total consumer spending on mobile apps amounted to $506 million in Vietnam, more than three times the amount recorded in 2018, according to the study.