Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Mobile Apps for Canada
There are considerably more apps listed in the US Apple Store than there are in the Canadian version.
The gap is so significant, a pseudo-black market is emerging where Canadians are finding loop holes in Apple’s registration system in order to download apps currently unavailable north of the border. Even the Globe & Mail recently ran an article in its business section provided instructions on buying a pay-as-you-go MasterCard at a Canadian national pharmacy chain, then using a fake US address to gain access to the US Apple Store.
Why is that? Why are US software developers and corporations ignoring the Canadian market? Is it a simple matter of ‘out of sight, out of mind’? Or is it related to copyright, trade issues or language and cultural issues.
Whatever the reason, many developers and corporations are missing out on an important market. Canada’s population, GPD and other economic measurements, positions the Canadian market on a par with California. Typically Canada is 10% of the US regardless of population, GDP, car sales etc.
That’s a big market, too big to ignore.
In fact, the Canadian mobile market appears to be maturing at a slower rate than in the US. Mobile marketing tools such as SMS messaging, coupons and bar code scanning all appear to be months, if not years behind the US adoption rate.
Is that bad?
We don’t think so. In fact it suggests that the smart marketer ought to exploit these differences between the US market and the Canadian scene.
Now is the time to step forward and reap the rewards in the relatively untapped Canadian market. And Mobile Fringe is your doorway to the Great White North.
Come on in, eh.
