Flurry detailed the shifting global balance in the apps industry, noting that fast growth of the user bases in some markets means that the distribution of app use is becoming increasingly international.

And this internationalisation is also reflected in the app stores: for example, the top positions in the US charts are taken by titles from Finland, Japan, Israel and the UK as well as home-grown titles, while the Chinese top ten includes competition from the US, France and Japan.

Basing its assessment on usage of the 250,000 apps it tracks, which run on more than 750 million devices worldwide, the company said that in terms of active devices, the US and China massively outstrip other countries.

As of October 2012, the US has 181 million active devices and China 167 million, compared with just 35 million for third-placed UK.

The company forecasts that China will overtake the US by the end of the first quarter of 2013, delayed only by the upcoming Christmas holiday sales period which will bolster US user numbers.

Since October 2011, while the US added 55 million net active devices, China has added “a dizzying 125 million”, a total equivalent to the current active user bases of the UK, Japan and South Korea combined.

After China (293 percent year-on-year), the fastest growth is coming from emerging markets. Vietnam (269 percent), Colombia (260 percent), Chile (235 percent) and Ukraine (209 percent) round-out the top five growth markets, with other previous high performers such as Brazil and India not even in the top 10 anymore (Russia is in 10th place, with 180 percent growth).

Unsurprisingly, this has led to a shift in the distribution of iOS and Android app sessions. Compared with October 2011, the number of sessions generated in the US has shrunk to 29 percent of the total from 48 percent, while the proportion from the rest of the top 10 (including China) has increased to 39 percent from 27 percent.

The number of sessions from “other” countries has also increased, to 32 percent from 25 percent.

In total, 71 percent of app sessions came from outside the US.