Distimo analysed the rise of Instagram, which enabled it recently to become the first billion dollar app acquisition.

The research company said that the title is an “impressive success story,” growing from fewer than 10,000 daily downloads at launch to more than 100,000 on several days in April 2012 – although this number was likely to have been bolstered by a profile boost following the Facebook deal.

The increase in the number of downloads has been accompanied by a strong growth in use: while between May 2011 and March 2012 the cumulative download total of the app in the US grew sevenfold, the number of shares from Instagram to Twitter grew twelvefold.

Regional variations
Distimo noted that Instagram has not been equally successful in every country. For example, while it took the app only one day to reach the top spot in the Photography category for the iPhone in the US, it took almost two months to repeat this in China, and more than six months in South Korea.

It asserted that in these countries, users prefer apps similar to Instagram, but with the possibility of sharing to their local networks like Sina, QQ Space and me2day.

Instagram’s performance in the top 300 overall app chart also shows some notable differences. For example, in China and South Korea, it did not make the top 300 at all, while in Germany it “wasn’t particularly popular as well” – directly after launch it was ranked 288, and then dropped out of the top 300 before making a return.

Among the English-speaking countries, the app followed a similar trajectory. In the first months the app rose in popularity, before a dip in December 2010. From 2011 onward, with some ups and downs, the trend was generally upward. During March and April 2012, it was not ranked lower than 35 in the overall app charts for these markets, and in Australia, the US and Canada, it has remained in the top 25.


The Android effect
Distimo said that following Instagram’s launch on Android, the app reached the number one spot in the Social category in five of the ten most important countries – the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Italy – in less than 10 days.

The analyst firm drew comparisons between the iPhone launch and the Android debut. In both cases, the highest rank on the first day was in the US, while demand from South Korea and China was more muted. In France, Instagram became more popular on Android than on iPhone, although in Germany the app still failed to generate momentum.

Looking at April 2012, when Instagram launched on Android, the cumulative download number was eight times higher than in May 2011. Now including posts from Android handsets, the number of shares also spiked, with 20 times more Instagram photos shared on Twitter than in May 2011.

It was noted that the fact the app is now published in the social category “makes clear that Instagram no longer considers itself as simply a photography app.”