SOFTWARETRENDS

There’s millions of software titles that make our life easier; they entertain us and keep us well informed when we use our computers, smartphones and tablets.

Software has become an everyday tool for users around the world. Proof of this are the more than 140 million people who visit Softonic, considered the world’s software reference guide when it comes to reading news, searching for articles and tutorials, watching videos and downloading programs.

These 140 million individuals generate more than 5 million daily downloads, which allows Softonic to offer an overall view on what are the worldwide software trends.

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a.

Software downloads worldwide

Top 3 most downloaded programs(web and mobile)

How can software trends be measured? The most accurate index comes from the software downloaded by users. This data shows the most popular programs and apps on a global scale according to the device from which they download (computer, smartphone, etc.).

SPANISH SPANISH

ENGLISH

PORTUGUESE PORTUGUESE

ENGLISH

Ares aTubeCatcher

avast!

aTubeCatcher

WhatsApp Facebook OperaMini

Top 3 most downloaded programs (WEB)

Top 3 most downloaded programs (MOBILE)

TubeMate OperaMini

WhatsAppFormatFactory

VLC Skype

aTubeCatcher

Photoscape Ares

aTubeCatcher

OperaMini

Facebook TubeMate

Photoscape Minecraft avast! GooglePlay

Pou WhatsApp

GooglePlay

WhatsApp ViberuTorrent GoogleChrome

VLC

Minecraft Firefox Photoscape FlashPlayer

OperaMini

Pou

InternetDownloadManager

WindowsLive

Messenger

avast! Viber TubeMate SubwaySurfers

WindowsLive

Messenger

VLC MicrosoftWord

WhatsApp Viber WindowsLive

Messenger

TubeMate FlashPlayer

Skypeavast! CCleaner AVG

lolduowan

FormatFactory

WinRAR GooglePlay

lolduowan

Kies

GERMAN

FRENCH

ITALIAN

DUTCH

POLISH

JAPANESE

CHINESE

JAPANESE

CHINESE

POLISH

DUTCH

ITALIAN

FRENCH

GERMAN

b.Countries withthe most downloads

Softonic is available in more than 10 languages (Italian, French, German, Polish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, English and Spanish), and with other sites in a growing phase (Swedish, Korean and Turkish). Most of the 140 million users who visit Softonic use either the English or Spanish version of the site.

Softonic in Spanish receives more than 82 million monthly visits and surpasses 2 million daily downloads generated by users from different parts of the world. This is due to the fact that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world after Chinese. Which are the countries that download the most from Softonic in Spanish? Spain, Mexico and Argentina.

On the other hand, Softonic in English receives more than 73 million monthly visits and serves around 2 million daily downloads generated by users. The geographical split is also diverse since English is the third most spoken language in the world after Chinese and Spanish. Which are the countries that download the most from Softonic in English? USA, Indiaand Indonesia.

13,683,331 13,533,175

6,981,257

3,282,483 2,594,777

COMMUNICATION GAMES BROWSERS MP3 &MULTIMEDIA APPS

UTILITIES

GAMES DOWNLOADINGSOFTWARE

UTILITIES VIDEO COMMUNICATION

47,333,937

31,740,166 31,575,43329,076,146

18,992,539

c.Software downloads by category

Downloads by category help identify what are the users’ preferences when it comes to software. Do they like games? Maybe apps and programs about image editing and photography are the most popular? The following graphs show the most popular software and apps for computers, smartphones and tablets.

Downloads by category (WEB)

Downloads by category (MOBILE)

1%

5% iPHONE

15% BLACKBERRY

23% SYMBIAN

26% JAVA

WINDOWS PHONE

1% WINDOWS MOBILE

29%ANDROID

d.Percentage of downloadsper platform

By analyzing the platforms from which users generate downloads, it is possible to know what are the most popular devices for Softonic users. The access to Softonic via the website has a very high percentage of users with Windows operating system and the access to Mobile is mainly done from devices with an Android operating system.

7% OTHERS

88% WINDOWS

4%

1% WEB APPSMAC OS

Percentageof downloads (MOBILE)

Percentageof downloads

(WEB)

2Quarterly newsworthy topics

Softonic is positioned in the market as a software guide that offers an overall view of what are the global trends regarding programs and apps. Sharing news and relevant information about software, as well as the interaction with users in several languages, allows Softonic to detect what are the newsworthy topics from the past quarter in the software market.

a.A Change in Microsoft

Substituting Hotmail with Outlook.com as well as Windows Live Messenger with Skype has generated a lot of doubts within their user community. In the case of Brazil, an article with a tip to go back to Hotmail (before the definite change) was an absolute success, driving visits to OnSoftware, Softonic expert’s blog, and registering more than 2,500 comments that made it clear that users were not happy with the change. Meanwhile the visits to articles about how to use Skype grew in 70%.

The same thing happened with users of Softonic in English and French. They were not happy and they expressed it through comments on articles regarding Microsoft’s new products. However, the change has positioned Skype as the most popular VOIP application since it has considerably increased its downloads from Softonic in English.

b.The WhatsApp dilemma: paid or free?

The controversial announcement that WhatsApp would start charging for the service has brought some consequences for the popular messaging app. The reaction to the news boosted LINE’s downloads (WhatsApp’s main competitor) from Softonic in Spanish. LINE has moved to the first place for BlackBerry and Windows Phone, it has become the most downloaded free app from Google Play and the most

downloaded free messaging app in iTunes. To top it all off, LINE’s desktop application has reached the 11th place in Windows downloads from Softonic.

Despite the controversy, users of Softonic in English and Italian are still considering WhatsApp an essential app for their smartphones, this is proven by the fact that the most read articles of the quarter have been “WhatsApp’s definite guide” (Italian) and “10 WhatsApp features you might have missed” (English).

The WhatsApp dilemma: paid or free?

The controversial announcement that WhatsApp would start charging for the service has brought some consequences for the popular messaging app. The reaction to the news boosted LINE’s downloads (WhatsApp’s main competitor) from Softonic in Spanish. LINE has moved to the first place for BlackBerry and Windows Phone, it has become the most downloaded free app from Google Play and the most

downloaded free messaging app in iTunes. To top it all off, LINE’s desktop application has reached the 11th place in Windows downloads from Softonic.

Despite the controversy, users of Softonic in English and Italian are still considering WhatsApp an essential app for their smartphones, this is proven by the fact that the most read articles of the quarter have been “WhatsApp’s definite guide” (Italian) and “10 WhatsApp features you might have missed” (English).

c.New versions of great videogames

There’s been several major video game releases this past quarter, updated versions of great games such as Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, SimCity and the new Tomb Raider have been a real hit with users in Softonic in German and French.

d.Mobile phones are also for gamers

Softonic in English users have demonstrated that the mobile platform has a great potential for video game lovers. Games such as Temple Run 2, Talking Cat and Angry Birds Seasons 2 have been the most popular games downloaded this past quarter.

e.Italians and Facebook

During March, the visits to an article that explained how to quit Facebook for good have doubled: Could it be that the users of Softonic in Italian are getting bored of the most popular social network of all time? According to our team of experts, this could be due to the fact that users are becoming more sensible about their privacy, and on the other hand there’s been an uprising of other social entertainment options that are taking the spotlight away from Facebook. New competitors that take advantage of the possibilities mobile devices offer such as Vine from Twitter or completely new applications that are more respectful with privacy such as Path, have become very popular with our users.

The WhatsApp dilemma: paid or free?

The controversial announcement that WhatsApp would start charging for the service has brought some consequences for the popular messaging app. The reaction to the news boosted LINE’s downloads (WhatsApp’s main competitor) from Softonic in Spanish. LINE has moved to the first place for BlackBerry and Windows Phone, it has become the most downloaded free app from Google Play and the most

downloaded free messaging app in iTunes. To top it all off, LINE’s desktop application has reached the 11th place in Windows downloads from Softonic.

Despite the controversy, users of Softonic in English and Italian are still considering WhatsApp an essential app for their smartphones, this is proven by the fact that the most read articles of the quarter have been “WhatsApp’s definite guide” (Italian) and “10 WhatsApp features you might have missed” (English).

f.The gap left behind by Google Reader’s shutdown

After the announcement made by Google that they will be shutting down their popular RSS reader, it seems that Feedly might be the alternative, at least for the users of Softonic in Spanish. However, there has been no real boost to Feedly’s downloads from Softonic for Firefox or Chrome and there’s been no notorious mention for it in the RSS Feed Reader category. Could this mean that Google Reader was not as popular as it once seemed? According to Softonic’s team of editors, the low popularity of RSS Readers is due to two main reasons: the format they use and the boom of Social Media. The RSS format has not been updated for quite some time now and there’s little room for innovation. To this, we should add the new trend of how users access information. They prefer social networks to access, filter and share news that's interesting to them since these platforms are much more integrated with their lifestyles and the relationship they have with information.

g.Tablets and Francophones

The use of tablets has considerably risen with the users of Softonic in French. This has been very notorious thanks to the increase in searches for apps specific for iPad Mini and Android tablets.

The WhatsApp dilemma: paid or free?

The controversial announcement that WhatsApp would start charging for the service has brought some consequences for the popular messaging app. The reaction to the news boosted LINE’s downloads (WhatsApp’s main competitor) from Softonic in Spanish. LINE has moved to the first place for BlackBerry and Windows Phone, it has become the most downloaded free app from Google Play and the most

downloaded free messaging app in iTunes. To top it all off, LINE’s desktop application has reached the 11th place in Windows downloads from Softonic.

Despite the controversy, users of Softonic in English and Italian are still considering WhatsApp an essential app for their smartphones, this is proven by the fact that the most read articles of the quarter have been “WhatsApp’s definite guide” (Italian) and “10 WhatsApp features you might have missed” (English).

The report's results on software trends show that devices - computers, smartphones, tablets - have emerged as social and leisure tools. Proof of this is the fact that games, messaging software and social networks, together with programs for downloading and file sharing, have been the program categories with the highest number of downloads in the first quarter of the year.

With regards to devices, survey data show that the use of mobile devices to download software continues to grow rapidly. In fact, of more than 5 million downloads a day from Softonic, 1 million downloads come from the mobile version of the site, which includes both smartphone and tablet users. In this respect, Android users are the most active community (29%), followed by Java (26%) and Symbian (23%). Meanwhile, users of Windows operating systems lead the number of downloads via the web (88%).

In addition to software download trends, users have not been immune to the latest industry news; Hotmail’s replacement with Outlook, Messenger changing to Skype, or the controversy about the new charges for using Whatsapp have been some of the most talked about topics by more than 140 million Softonic’s users.

3Conclusions