‘Pokémon Go’ catches 100M players, craze shows ‘little sign of losing steam’

We are, of course, talking about the phenomenon that is Pokémon Go.

Mobile analytics firm App Annie said Monday that according to its data, the augmented reality app that’s been getting people off their butt and into the great outdoors has been downloaded more than 100 million times by Android and iOS users.

Considering it’s only been out since July 6, and is still to launch in many countries around the world, that’s pretty darn impressive. And remember Angry Birds, another massive smartphone hit from not so long ago? That took the best part of a year to hit 100 million downloads back in 2011. So make that double-impressive.

App Annie’s Sameer Singh said the Pokémon Go craze is “showing little sign of losing steam,” and is already earning Niantic, the San Francisco-based developer behind the hit game, more than $10 million a day via in-app purchases and other deals.

Singh notes that the game’s massive popularity has helped to introduce the concept of augmented reality (AR) – where digital content is overlaid onto the real world through a window such as a smartphone display – to a huge global audience, a development that before long is certain to encourage further creative uses of the technology in other new apps. Indeed, Singh described the game’s success as a “watershed moment” for AR.

Pokémon Go has also caught the attention of businesses, who’ve been using features of the game – including Lure Modules that attract Pokémon to a particular location – to bring more customers to their premises.

Despite everybody and their dog apparently playing the game, the intense usage hasn’t had an adverse affect on other apps’ revenue figures, Singh said, explaining that Pokémon Go‘s success “has not come at the expense of other mobile games or apps. Instead, it has opened up new engagement and revenue opportunities for the entire app ecosystem.”