Along with China’s No. 1 global position, Asia-Pacific has three other countries in the global top 10 for retail ecommerce sales (Japan is fourth, South Korea is fifth, and India is eighth).

WeChat continues to dominate in China, while Line and KakaoTalk are favored in Japan and South Korea, respectively. Telegram is a fast-growing player in Russia. WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report explores our latest forecast for global mobile messaging app users, including breakouts by country and platform.

South Korea will have the lowest increase at 20.9%, partially due to the significant popularity of local social media app Band. Read more:. TikTok Users Around the World 2020: eMarketer Forecasts and Other Essential Stats. Snapchat and Instagram's user growth in Asia-Pacific was aided by India's TikTok ban. Social networks will experience a pandemic-driven boost in 2020—but not equally.

A recent Bloomberg report found the country had purchased nearly $32 billion of chip production equipment last year from companies in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. That $32 billion is a 20% increase from 2019. Just as different regions signal interest in shoring up semiconductor production, Apple has plans of its own to become less reliant on competitors for chips and other technology.

South Korea was second at CA$14.52 ($10.94), and the US was third at CA$10.61 ($8.00). Greater Diversity of Platforms. Our forecasts cover the top four social networks in Canada, but more niche platforms like Pinterest, TikTok, and reddit are also having an effect on the landscape.

Likewise, a majority of adults in South Korea, the UK, and the US found the idea of subscription-based VR and AR at least somewhat appealing, according to a January 2020 Nokia poll conducted by Parks Associates. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents found a subscription to VR experiences appealing or very appealing, while 70% and 65% said the same for AR experiences and VR sports, respectively.

Italy, which was at the beginning of an incomplete lockdown period at the end of February, saw an 11% increase in daily mobile time spent, while South Korea and Japan—both experiencing outbreaks in February and selective quarantines—saw daily mobile time spent increase 7%. In contrast, the US saw no year-over-year change in February.