Being able to discuss business with friends, family or colleagues has become a lot more difficult now that worldwide people are having to work from home. The fact that social interaction with others is still hopefully on the list of priorities is demonstrated by the increase in downloads of apps with a video-converence mode.
In the first week of March, the number of downloads of apps like Zoom and Hangouts already increased in Europe; in the following weeks, the number of downloads increased considerably more. Analysis of App Annie shows that in the week of 14-21 March, the number of downloads of such apps (the total of the App Store and Google Play) reached 62 million. An increase of 45% compared to a week earlier and an increase of 90% when looking at the average week in 2019.
In the same record week, the number of Zoom users increased by a factor of fourteen compared to Q4 of 2019 (in the US, in Italy even by a factor of 55), while Google Hangouts Meet saw an even more significant increase. In Italy, the app was downloaded 140 times more often than in the average week in the last quarter of last year.
For consumers, the Houseparty app was a massive hit. In the third week of March, the number of downloads increased so much that it increased by a factor of 423 compared to an average week in Q4 of 2019 (again, in Italy).
The app does almost the same as most other videocall apps, but also adds a more social element in the form of games that can be played together.
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