From downloads to dollars

Not too long ago, you’d hear boomers blaming everything wrong in society on mobile phones. This was before they signed up on Facebook and started receiving fake news on WhatsApp and became one of the largest demographics for these products. Coincidentally, the two Meta-owned apps also had the third and fourth most downloads in Pakistan during 2023, at 23.4 million and 22.8m, respectively. According to the State of Apps 2023 report by Data Darbar and Begin, Pakistan had the ninth-highest volume of downloads, at 3.51 billion. Not only does this represent a slight decline, but also breaks the two-year streak where we were the fastest-growing major market in the world. However, keep in mind that global installs only edged up 0.8 per cent to 257bn in 2023 from 255bn the year before.