Digital Week in Review: 1 Billion Mobile Facebook Users, A Tweet Translator, and iPhone Sales Boost Market Share in Asia

In this week’s Digital Week in Review: In 2015 there will be 1 billion mobile Facebook users monthly, Twitter now has feature to translate other tweets, and iPhone sales boost market share in Asia.

In 2015 1 Billion Users Will Access Facebook via Mobile Phone

According to new research from eMarketer, in 2015, 1 billion users will access Facebook monthly via mobile phone. This is 70% of the Facebook’s total network. By 2018, it is estimated that 1.34 billion users, which is more than 3 quarters of Facebook’s user base, will be accessing the social network on a regular basis via mobile phone. This comes as no surprise with how attached people are to their smartphones today. There is almost no reason to use a desktop anymore, for social media at least.

The United States will stay the largest mobile market on Facebook in 2015, with mobile ads expecting to make up almost 75% of the company’s total revenue. But by 2017, India is expected to top the charts as the world’s largest Facebook mobile audience, with Indonesia coming in behind at third.

Debra Aho Williamson, principle analyst at eMarketer had this to say:

“Facebook has been a leader helping marketers to transition to mobile advertising. Because the Facebook experience is basically the same across devices, advertisers don’t have to reinvent the wheel to place mobile advertising. As Facebook’s user base shifts even more heavily toward mobile, it is well positioned to see increasing ad revenues from this channel.”

Twitter Has A Tweet Translator

Twitter now has a feature where Tweets can be translated by a platform that is powered by Microsoft’s Bing. With Twitter available in 40 different languages it only makes sense for the user to have this option available to them. The feature is now live and visible on Twitter.com, as well as on the app on iOs and Android phones. To translate a Tweet, just click the globe icon. The feature will be active by default but it can be turned off in your account settings if you choose to do so.

The translations aren’t perfect, much like Google translate and for this reason the original text will always be displayed.

“Although Bing Translator relies on advanced translation software to provide Tweet translations, the results still vary and often fall below the accuracy and fluency of translations provided by a professional translator.”- Twitter

Strong iPhone 6 Sales Boost Market Share in Asia

The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been so successful that it has boosted Apple’s market share in Asia. In Japan alone, iPhones accounted for 51% of all smartphones sold in October and November, and have been the top handset in market share since Q4 in 2012.

Worldwide, iPhone sales grew 26% YOY in November 2014.
However in Korea, Samsung is still the dominant brand. Tom Kang, research director for Counterpoint had this to say:

“No foreign brand has gone beyond the 20 percent market share in the history of Korea’s smartphone industry. It has always been dominated by the global smartphone leader, Samsung. But iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have made a difference here, denting the competition’s phablet sales.”

Kang also said that more iPhones could have been sold in Korea but there wasn’t even close to enough inventory to meet demand.

“Apple with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been able to impact Samsung’s premium Galaxy S5 and Note 4 sales. But with the launch of Xiaomi and Note Pro it is going to be a fierce battle in the premium segment, with Samsung being attacked from both ends,”- Neil Shah (Counterpart Research Director)