作者：Kim-Mai Cutler

对许多开发商而言，就下载量而言，中国已经迅速成长为第二大市场，但该市场的盈利仍然不高。上周末在中国举办的iOS开发者会议上公布的数据显示，7月份Google的AdMob广告网络中国的浏览量仅次于美国。

这个市场有着巨大的潜力，手机开发商要怎么利用呢？

上两周在北京和上海两地，我有幸同High Noon-maker Happylatte和PopCap Games等许多手机游戏开发商以及由前谷歌大中华区总裁李开复旗下创新工场孵化的许多公司交谈。

与美国市场相比，中国市场甚为复杂，而且有着较大的差异。但是，在下文中我总结了些许在该市场中开发和营销iOS和Android应用的深刻见解：

1、Android算是长期的赌注，iOS尽管收入较低，但有着惊人的适应性。

根据熟悉相关数据的搜索公司的资料显示，iOS在手机搜索排行榜上突飞猛进，暴露出更多中国搜索引擎存在的问题。谷歌AdMob也表明，中国区网络上将近3/4的页面访问量来自于iOS。但是，诺基亚依然是中国最大的手机平台。

目前无法确切计算出使用Android和iOS设备用户的数量，因为中国市场存在许多使用Android却与该平台无法兼容的山寨手机。而且，许多人通过亲戚朋友从国外购买手机。中国最大的手机运营商中国移动尽管没有销售iPhone，但是该公司声称上季度其网络覆盖了744万部iPhone。

中国国产Android变体系统Tapas设备制造商之一中国电信估计，目前国内的Android设备在1200到1500万之间。诸如木瓜移动等许多专注手机领域的公司声称，他们构建产品时假设中国国内至少有1000万iOS和1000万Android手机正在流通和使用。

在中国，解锁的iPhone 4售价为4999人民币，约合780美元，这个价格大大高于美国本土价格以及多数美国用户选择的两年计划打折价格。据关注中国的调查公司ZDC所述，这个价格是三星、摩托罗拉或HTC新款零售Android手机的平均价格的两倍，后者通常为2300到2600人民币，约合360到410美元。多数人支付全额零售价购买解锁手机，然后再选择运营商。

苹果在中国是备受推崇的品牌。但据观察结果所示，中国用户的收入基本上还无法负担起iPhone的价格。这也是为何这里存在虚假苹果商店的原因。苹果新任首席执行官Tim Cook声称在公司上次盈利电话会议中，中国市场在上个季度给公司带来38亿美元的收入，截止当日该地区在公司整个财政年度的收入为88亿美元。

许多西方科技公司进驻这个市场后只会一败涂地，但苹果并没有面临这种惨状。与谷歌不同的是，苹果与中国政府维持着良好的关系。公司乐于根据中国政府的禁令监察当地应用商店中的敏感内容。谷歌中国Android Market并不支持付费应用，除非公司能够审核其商店内容（游戏邦注：这需要对商店目前的审查过程做出重大改变），否则就很难获得大的进步。如果采取上述做法的话，或许Android应用商店会繁荣发展。

2、中国市场有许多Android定制系统，但都还没有真正发展起来。

与许多其他西方国家市场不同的是，中国市场有许多Android定制版本系统，以满足中国用户需求。因为Android市场在中国仍然是新鲜之物，所以多数Android用户使用的仍然是标准版本的Android操作系统。

木瓜移动CEO沈思称，现在这些定制版本的系统都还没有真正壮大起来。

眼下还不必关注这些系统。但是如果你有兴趣的话，我们在谈话中经常会涉及以下几个系统：

小米MIUI：小米是由前Google中国以及微软员工组成的令人景仰的团队，尝试让中国在价值链上更近一步。小米不是单纯的Android设备制造商，而是努力成为兼有硬件和软件的公司，创造出有着精致用户体验的高质量手机。公司提供了称为“MIUI”的Android改良版本，有着广受赞扬的用户界面，而且可以免费下载。近期，公司发布其首款手机。

点心Tapas：点心是由前Google大中华区总裁李开复旗下创新工场孵化的公司，正在创造符合中国用户需求的Android系统。公司与宏碁和夏普之类的制造商合作，向市场推出带有Tapas操作系统的手机。

百度新手机平台百度·易：中国搜索巨头今日揭开了百度易的神秘面纱，这是个以Android为模型构建的手机平台，允许开发商销售游戏和应用。但是，公司还未确认该平台是否真正以Android为基础。PopCap Games之类的游戏开发商已经与该搜索公司进行合作，这样百度用户在搜索游戏时，PopCap游戏就会呈现在搜索结果中。

联想LePhone：LePhone是由中国PC制造商联想旗下的Android变体系统，公司以此系统来帮助其智能手机在竞争中突出重围，使公司新生的手机业务得到成长。但是自系统发布1年多时间来，联想声称近期的季度财报电话会议显示共售出8.1万台LePad。公司还表示，截止3月底，共售出50万部LePhone设备。售出设备的数量确实很少。

中国移动OPhone：这是另一种风格的Android系统，出自手机生态系统中强大的参与者——中国最大运营商中国移动，该公司现在已经有6.22亿用户。不幸的是，这个系统的未来还不确定。有报道称，运营商将会取消这个项目，使用标准版本的Android系统。

这些Android改良版本在兼容性上有不足之处。如果你构建针对Android系统的应用，它们应该可以在小米和点心手机上运行，问题并不在于应用能够在这些设备上使用。问题在于，这些手机上可能不会预装Android Market。它们可能都安装着不同的应用商店，意味着用户可能无法找到你的应用，除非你能够将应用提交到用户所知道的商店或者是预先安装到设备上的商店。

3、明年需要关注的两大定制Android系统：小米MIUI和点心Tapas

Android游戏开发商Doodle Mobile的前谷歌中国员工王晔将这两个公司打了个比方。小米就像是Android版本的iOS，而点心就像是Android版本的Android。

小米有着中国当前最具实力的团队，它们采用类似苹果的方法来设计硬件并将其与基于Android的软件结合起来，组成综合性的设备。公司两周前在北京发布了其旗舰Android手机M1，售价为1999人民币，约合313美元。

小米反映了中国科技行业企业家希望能够摆脱甚为低成本制造商的强烈愿望，将价值链提升到设计消费产品。公司也从启明风投和Morningside Asia获得了至少3500美元的投资。

公司似乎希望用户能够在线购买它们的手机，因为还未公布主要的零售合作商。公司寄希望于通过粉丝群体来口头传播首部设备的销售，因为那些热心的粉丝已经为MIUI制作了数百款的自定义皮肤。他们希望通过这些早期使用者和潮人，推动小米手机的市场需求。相对美国来说，这种战略在中国可行性更高，因为用户会首先购买手机然后再选择运营商。但是，现在断言这种做法能否产生效果还为时过早。

点心采用的方法与小米相反。公司开发的操作系统向诸如宏碁和夏普之类的当地设备制造商和运营商授权。廖系统做了许多的改良，比如通讯录中的人可同时设置中文名和英文名。系统的用户界面中还有些独特的动画，而且深度整合了新浪微博和人人网之类的本土社交网络。

点心表示，目前售出的手机数量仍然较少，不足100万部，因为公司在3月份的首次融资中只筹得来自GSR Ventures的1000万美元。目前，该系统有7个型号的手机正在出售，其目标是在明年获得30%的Android手机销售量。其设备的价格介于1700至3500人民币之间，约合266美元至548美元。

4、目前有大量的Android应用商店，还不能确定哪家能够获胜。如果可以的话，应当尽量与运营商和设备制造商达成预安装合作。

正如我们之前所说的那样，除非谷歌对Android Market的审查过程做出重大改变，否则很难在中国获得优势地位。苹果在应用上架销售前彻底审查每款应用，而谷歌做的只是在应用售出后发现问题时，才移除相关应用。这种做法不是很适合中国市场，因为许多本土应用平台（游戏邦注：比如腾讯公司的平台）都会在应用销售前根据当地的审查规则审查每款应用。谷歌可能必须改变Android Market的审查策略，才能成为这个市场中的主流。

正因为Android Market处在这种境地，许多非官方应用商店开始逐步发展起来。但是，其中许多可能难以生存下去，因为中国用户通常不会付费购买应用，这也使他们的盈利模式难以为继。

应用商店分裂现象在中国非常复杂，即便是那些在中国有着独立工作室的大型西方手机开发商也对如何销售他们的产品感到迷茫。PopCap Games和Rovio之类的开发商绕过这个令人头痛的问题，直接与大型运营商和设备制造商达成预安装协议。如果你足够出名，那么手机生态系统中的大型参与者和应用商店自然会向你提供优惠条款。对于小型开发商而言，有木瓜移动之类的公司可以帮助解决这些棘手的销售问题。

他们提到的可供考虑的商店如下：

HiAPK：这家应用商店由网龙提供支持，这个网友开发商今年上半年度的盈利为3.41亿人民币（约合5350万美元）。公司上个季度的手机业务盈利为940万人民币（150万美元）。

GoAPK：由中国大型游戏开发商盛大公司运营的这家商店在融资中募得100万美元，据报道估值约为1000万美元。

AppChina：这个应用商店来自另一个创新工场孵化的公司，可能会预先安装到多数点心设备上。

Gfan：这也是一家大型应用商店。

Nduoa：这家应用商店由中国早期的Android开发商运营。

还有些运营商商店，比如中国联通的WoStore、中国移动的MMStore和中国电信的189Store，再加上某些小型商店，比如应用汇、EOEMarket、木蚂蚁和Aimi8。

受到推荐的中国手机广告网络有AirAD、AdTOUCH、domob、casee和SmartMad。

也可以考虑同主流社交网络，如新浪微博（游戏邦注：类似Twitter和Facebook的结合体，出现于1年半之前，已经成为主流平台）、人人网、腾讯和豆瓣。相对比美国和Facebook的关系而言，这些平台中的社交媒体和病毒性营销公司组成的生态系统相当复杂。

5、寻找合作伙伴或者依靠某个可以提供4种主流付费方法的平台。

中国用户付费购买游戏中虚拟商品的方式主要有4种方法：预付费卡、信用卡、为他们的手机购买时间或数据、银行转账。

iOS显然使用的是信用卡，但是信用卡在中国使用率并不及美国或欧洲广。所以，某些用户会通过淘宝购买预付费iTune卡。许多消费者还会使用盗版应用，所以首先应当认识到的是：避免使用付费应用模式。

位于北京的手机开发商Vision Hacker说道，公司3/4的iOS用户通过使用越狱设备来逃避为他们的游戏《Crows Coming》付款。PopCap Games声称其旗下在中国iOS商店销售的著名产品《植物大战僵尸》有5到7个盗版软件。PopCap最终将会把在中国销售的游戏转变为免费增值模式。

出于这些付款问题，如果苹果看重这个市场的话，他们将来很可能会添加其他的付款方式。

就Android而言，因为存在许多商店，情况变得相当复杂。要么谷歌改善其与中国政府的关系，当地的运营商和手机制造商获得搭载有Android Market的符合政策的手机并预装出色的付款方式，或者你只能等待这些本土Android应用商店竞相角逐直至得出胜者。你还可以同木瓜移动之类的公司合作，在中国寻找合适的销售方式。或者你可以与本土运营商达成预安装交易，如果他们愿意预先付费获得在设备中装上你的游戏，你就可以避开这些麻烦。

所有的这些问题使得手机广告成为相对更具吸引力的盈利方式。

6、认真对待中国的审查制度。

黑帮主题和赌博类游戏无法在中国销售。即便是僵尸题材的游戏（游戏邦注：比如《植物大战僵尸》）有时也是被禁止的，因为中国政府不喜欢那些看起来过于吓人的内容。为满足这个条件，PopCap选择给自己的僵尸穿上运动服，这样它们的皮肤就会被这些衣服覆盖，而且看起来就不那么像僵尸了。

中国的审查时常处在变化中（游戏邦注：近期刚刚禁止了电视上的穿越题材作品），但是如果能够与本土强势的产商合作或者保持良好关系，许多规则可以不用严格执行。

所以你必须明白哪些内容能够出现在手机游戏中。考虑下有着可爱的动物和小鸟的游戏，也就是那些轻松和平的游戏。

7、因为市场规模较小、销售和付费问题，中国手机游戏开发商现在似乎更热衷于获取海外用户。

本土市场仍然很小而且具有分裂性，中国用户的ARPU指数相比国外来说相对较低。因而，与我交谈过的许多有才能的开发商想要先在美国确立地位，然后再利用他们对本土的理解以及获得的资金在中国市场成熟后再回头统治这个市场。

到目前为止，像Rovio和PopCap Games等已经取得成功的西方开发商也有着自己的运营计划。

所有的这些证据都表明，对游戏开发商而言中国显然是一个非常巨大的市场，只是还需要一定的时间来成长。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Understanding the iOS and Android Market in China

Kim-Mai Cutler

China is fast-becoming the second-largest market in terms of downloads for many developers including companies like Rovio, but it lags behind in terms of monetization. The country came in just behind the U.S. in page views on Google’s AdMob advertising network in July, according to statistics the network shared at an iOS developer conference in China this past weekend.

The promise is there, but how do mobile developers take advantage of it?

Over the past two weeks in Beijing and Shanghai, I’ve had the chance to talk with several mobile developers like High Noon-maker Happylatte, PapayaMobile, PopCap Games and other companies being incubated in former Google China head Kai-Fu Lee’s incubator Innovation Works.

It’s an incredibly complex and different market from the U.S., but here are a few insights into developing and marketing iOS and Android apps there:

1) Android may be the long-term bet, but iOS is showing surprising resilience in spite of lower incomes here:

iOS has leapt up the ranks of mobile search referrals to Baidu in recent months and sends more queries to the Chinese search engine than Android does, according to a source at the search company familiar with the data. Google’s AdMob also said that close to three-fourths of the pageviews on its network in China are from iOS as compared to Android during the same presentation that the picture at the top is from. Nokia is still the biggest platform in China though.

There aren’t good public estimates available on the actual number of consumers carrying Android and iOS devices considering that there are many “Shanzhai” or knock-off phones that are based on Android but are incompatible with the platform. Plus, many people bring phones into the country through relatives and friends abroad. The country’s largest carrier China Mobile — which doesn’t even sell the iPhone — said it had 7.44 million iPhones on its network in its last quarterly earnings call.

Dianxin, one of the makers of a local variant of Android known as Tapas, estimates there are 12 to 15 million Android devices currently circulating in the country. Many other local mobile-focused companies like PapayaMobile say they’re building products assuming there are at least 10 million iOS and 10 million Android phones circulating in the country.

An unlocked iPhone 4 costs 4,999 renminbi here, or roughly $780, well above its American price and even farther above the discounted price with a two-year plan that most U.S. consumers choose. That is about twice what the average new Android phone from Samsung, Motorola or HTC retails for at 2300 to 2600 renminbi or $360 to $410, according to China-focused research firm ZDC. Most people buy their phones unlocked — and often at full retail price — then pick a carrier afterward.

Apple is an incredibly revered brand in China. Based on observation, it’s hard to say there is a more potent and accessible status symbol for Chinese consumers with newfound discretionary income than the iPhone. There is a reason there are fake Apple stores here. There is a reason why Apple’s newly appointed chief executive Tim Cook said in the company’s last earnings call that China brought in $3.8 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter and $8.8 billion in revenue in the fiscal year to date.

Apple has also gotten away with a lot more than many other Western consumer technology companies which have come here only to fall flat on their faces. Unlike Google, Apple maintains a favorable relationship with the Chinese government. It likely censors sensitive content from the local version of the app store to comply with the Chinese government’s restrictions. Google doesn’t support paid apps in Android Market in China and unless it censors its store (which would require substantial changes to the store’s current review process), it would be hard for it to gain mass adoption here. In that case, alternative Android app stores may thrive.

2) There are many local variants of Android, but none of them are really that big — yet.

Unlike many other Western markets, there are several custom versions of Android here that are tailored to the needs of Chinese consumers (or in less promising cases, the needs of Chinese carriers and OEMs). Because the Android market here is still so new, most Android users still have the standard version of Google’s OS.

“None of them are really big right now,” said Si Shen, the chief executive of Android mobile-social gaming network PapayaMobile.

Don’t worry about them for now. But if you are interested, the handful that come up most often in conversation are:

Xiao Mi (MIUI): A respected team of Google China and Microsoft alums led by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun is trying to move China up the value chain. Instead of being a commoditized mass manufacturer of Android devices, Xiao Mi is trying to be an integrated hardware and software company that creates high-quality phones with a polished user experience. It offers a popular modified version of Android called MIUI, that has a widely-praised user interface and can be downloaded for free. Using the buzz around this, it recently announced its first handset. (See the video embedded above. And more on this below.)

Dianxin (Tapas): Incubated out of former Google China head Kai Fu Lee’s Innovation Works, Dianxin is creating a version of Android that’s tailored for Chinese consumers. It’s partnering with manufacturers like Acer and Sharp to bring phones with the Tapas OS to market.

Baidu’s New Mobile Platform Baidu Yi: The Chinese search giant just unveiled Baidu Yi today, a mobile platform modeled on Android that will allow developers to distribute games and applications. The company didn’t confirm whether it was actually based on Android though. Game developers like PopCap Games have already partnered with the search company so that their games actually show up embedded in search results when Baidu users look for their titles.

Lenovo’s LePhone: LePhone is a variant of Android that Chinese PC maker Lenovo introduced to help its smartphones stand out from the competition and fuel growth in its nascent mobile business. But it’s been more than a year since launch and Lenovo said in its most recent quarterly earnings call that it shipped 81,000 LePads. It also said that it shipped 500,000 LePhone devices through the quarter finishing in March. These numbers are pretty low.

China Mobile’s OPhone: This is another flavor of Android driven by a powerful player in the ecosystem, China’s largest carrier China Mobile, which has 622 million subscribers. Unfortunately, its future is uncertain as there have been reports that the operator may cancel the project in favor of a standard version of Android.

These modified versions of Android should be backward compatible. If you build apps for Android, they should work on Xiao Mi and Dianxin. The issue is not whether the apps will function on these devices. The issue is that when these phones arrive en masse, they probably won’t ship with Android Market pre-loaded on the phone. They’ll probably all ship with different app stores, meaning users will not be able to find your app unless you submit them to the stores that they know or that are already pre-loaded on the devices.

3) Two Android flavors that will be interesting to watch next year are Xiao Mi (MIUI) and Dianxin (Tapas):

Wang Ye, a Google China alum who founded Chinese Android game developer Doodle Mobile, gave me an interesting metaphor for these two companies. Xiao Mi is like the iOS of Android and Dianxin, which he also helped put the team together for, is like the Android of Android.

Led by one of the most buzzed-about teams in China today, Xiao Mi is taking an Apple-like approach in designing hardware and Android-based software together in a fully integrated device. It launched its flagship Android phone, the M1, two weeks ago in Beijing at a surprisingly affordable price of 1,999 renminbi, or $313.

Xiao Mi reflects the aspirations of Chinese technology entrepreneurs to rise above the country’s recent history as low-cost manufacturer and move up the value chain into designing consumer products with global appeal. Lei Jun’s Xiao Mi M1 launch last month was a homage of sorts to Steve Jobs’ keynotes although he made some very controversial comments about the Apple founder this week. The company also raised at least $35 million from Qiming Ventures and Morningside Asia.

The company seems to expect that consumers will buy its phone online without any major retail partnerships announced yet. The hope is that the company’s fervent fanbase, which has already made hundreds of custom skins for MIUI, will carry initial device sales by word-of-mouth. After that, demand will trickle down from these early adopters and tastemakers. It’s a more feasible strategy in China than in the U.S. because consumers tend to buy their phones unlocked and sign with a carrier later. But it’s too early to tell if it will work.

Dianxin, also known as Tapas, is taking the opposite approach of Xiao Mi. It has a version of OS that it is licensing out to local device makers and carriers like Acer and Sharp. It has a number of modifications like the address book allows for people to have both Chinese and English names. It also has some unusual animations in the user interface and can be deeply integrated with local social networks like Sina Weibo and RenRen.

Dianxin tells us that the number of shipments is still small at less than 1 million, as the company only just raised its $10 million first round of funding in March from GSR Ventures. It currently has seven models out with the modified OS on it, but has an ambitious goal of taking 30 percent of Android shipments in China next year. Its devices are priced anywhere from 1,700 to 3,500 renminbi or $266 to $548.

4) There are dozens of Android app stores and it’s too early to tell who will win. Get pre-install deals with carriers and device makers if you can:

Like we said before, unless Google makes significant changes to Android Market’s review process, it will be harder for it to gain mass adoption in China. Unlike Apple, which exhaustively reviews every app before it goes up for sale, Google only takes down apps after they’re available on the store. This is incompatible with the Chinese market as many of the local app platforms like Tencent review every app before sale to comply with local censorship rules. Google would probably have to institute prior review for Android Market to become mainstream here.

In Android Market’s place, a handful of unofficial app stores have blossomed. Many of them may not survive though since many Chinese consumers don’t generally pay for apps, making their revenue models unviable.

App store fragmentation here is so complex that even the biggest Western mobile developers with established offices in China have a hard time wrapping their heads around how to distribute their work. Developers like PopCap Games and Rovio are bypassing this headache and going directly to the big carriers and device makers for pre-install deals. If you’re well-known enough, the big players and app stores will come to you and offer favorable terms. For smaller developers, there are companies like PapayaMobile which can help with navigating these complex distribution issues.

The stores that they mentioned considering are:

HiAPK: This app store is backed by NetDragon, an online gaming developer which pulled in 341 million renminbi ($53.5 million) in revenue in the first half of this year. The company also made about 9.4 million renminbi ($1.5 million) from its mobile business in the last quarter.

GoAPK: This one raised $1 million in funding at a reported $10 million valuation from Shanda, another big Chinese game developer.

AppChina: This app store is from another Innovation Works-incubated company and will probably come pre-loaded on most of the Dianxin devices.

Gfan: This is apparently another one of the largest stores.

Nduoa: This one is run by an early Android developer in China.

Then there are the carrier stores like China Unicom’s WoStore, China Mobile’s MMStore and China Telecom’s 189Store, plus a bunch of other smaller players like Yingyonghui, EOEMarket, Mumayi and Aimi8.

Chinese mobile advertising networks that we were recommended to check out include AirAD, AdTOUCH, domob, casee and SmartMad.

Also consider advertising with the major social networks like Sina Weibo, which is like a combination of Twitter and Facebook that has emerged in the last 18 months as a major platform, RenRen, Tencent and Douban. There is a fairly sophisticated ecosystem of social media and viral marketing companies around these platforms just like there is in the U.S. around Facebook.

5) Find partners or rely on a platform that covers the four major methods of payment here:

The four ways Chinese consumers generally pay for virtual goods in games here are through pre-paid cards, credit cards, buying time or data for their mobile phones or bank transfers.

iOS obviously relies on credit cards, but credit penetration is lower in China than it is in the U.S. or Europe. So some users will buy pre-paid iTunes cards off Taobao, which is kind of like eBay. Many consumers also jailbreak their devices to get pirated copies of apps, so Lesson #1 is: avoid the paid app model.

One local Beijing developer Vision Hacker told us that three-fourths of their iOS users had circumvented paying for their game Crows Coming by using jailbroken devices. PopCap Games says there are about five to seven pirated copies of its hit Plants Vs. Zombies for every legitimate copy it sells in the iOS store in China. As a result, PopCap will eventually transition its Chinese mobile titles to the freemium model.

As for the payments issues, if Apple is serious about this market — and they are — they will presumably add other payment methods in the future.

Regarding Android, this is fairly complicated with multiple stores. Either Google will improve its relationship with the Chinese government, local carriers and handset makers to get more compliant phones with Android Market pre-installed along with better payment methods, or you’ll have to wait for the various local Android app stores to duke it out until a winner emerges. You can also partner with companies like PapayaMobile to find an appropriate distribution method here. Or you can do a pre-install deal with a local carrier and avoid this stress altogether if they pay you upfront for copies embedded in their devices.

All of this makes mobile advertising a relatively more appealing monetization alternative here.

6) Be conscientious about censorship in China:

Mafia-themed and gambling games will be a tough sell here. Even zombies — as in Plants Vs. Zombies — are somewhat verboten, because the Chinese government doesn’t want content that is too scary. In a big public ad campaign for Plants Vs. Zombies, PopCap chose to feature zombies wearing football uniforms over other characters because their skin was covered up by more clothing and they looked less … zombie-like.

Chinese censors are capricious (they recently banned time travel on television), but many rules can be bent through good relationships or partnerships with locally powerful players.

So go with what’s worked on mobile games so far. Think cute animals. Birds. Happy and peaceful games.

7) Because of the smaller market size, distribution and payment issues, Chinese mobile game developers seem more keen on reaching consumers abroad than local ones for now.

The local market is still very small and fragmented and the ARPU figures for consumers here are low compared to what can be found abroad. Understandably, many talented developers I’ve talked to in China want to establish themselves outside of the U.S. first, set up a healthy revenue stream and then use their local understanding and capital to dominate the Chinese market later once it matures.

The Western developers that have been successful here so far like Rovio and Plants Vs. Zombies-maker PopCap Games also have significant merchandising opportunities outside of the games themselves.

All these things said, China will obviously be a very big market for game developers, but it will just take a lot of time, patience and local know-how. (Source: Inside Mobile Apps)