Why are these Apps growing so fast? An inside look

With the spread of COVID-19, terms such as "telework" and "remote work" have become part of everyday conversation.
At BOEL, we began working remotely in early April, and I too am now spending much more time at home.
A recent news segment highlighted the apps whose download numbers have surged since Japan's state of emergency was declared.
The growth seen in the app market since the state of emergency appears to be unprecedented.

Most readers have probably used a food delivery service at some point.
It's wonderfully convenient: pick your favorite dishes from a nearby restaurant and have them delivered with a few taps in an app.
Food delivery had already been one of the fastest-growing categories in Japan's app market, and the impact of COVID-19 has accelerated that growth even further.

In Japan, the major food delivery services include Uber Eats, Demae-can, and Rakuten Delivery. Among them, Uber Eats has shown particularly rapid growth in recent years. In the March 2020 rankings of smartphone users for food-related apps, Uber Eats saw its user base jump by 191.7% year on year—a striking increase.

So what makes Uber Eats different from its competitors, and why has it earned such strong support?

One key reason is the sheer variety of restaurants available.
Beyond the usual sushi shops, pizza chains, and large brands like McDonald's and Starbucks, you'll also find newly popular options such as bubble tea shops, as well as a remarkable number of small, independently owned restaurants—provided they are listed on the platform. The breadth of choice is striking.
This is made possible by Uber Eats' distinctive model: ordinary individuals are hired as delivery partners. As a result, even small, independent restaurants that previously couldn't offer delivery due to staffing shortages or cost constraints can now join the platform with ease.

On top of that, on April 10, 2020, in response to COVID-19, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government asked restaurants to limit their hours of operation from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and, for establishments serving alcohol such as izakaya, to stop serving alcohol by 7:00 p.m. As restaurants searched for ways to keep their businesses afloat, takeout and delivery emerged as a critical lifeline for attracting customers. Uber Eats' model—which requires no in-house delivery staff and lets restaurants get up and running quickly after registration—was particularly well suited to that environment.
With more restaurants joining the platform, the range of choices for users will continue to expand, driving higher satisfaction and, in turn, even more growth in active users.

With movement restricted by the COVID-19 outbreak and many physical stores temporarily closed, more people are turning to online fashion retailers and consumer-to-consumer marketplace apps. The C2C marketplace category is crowded with competitors—so what is it about Mercari, in particular, that draws so many users?

A big part of the answer, I believe, is that Mercari can be used entirely on a smartphone, which gives users a sense of both convenience and security. Anyone can list or buy items at any time directly from their phone. Unlike traditional online auctions, there's no need to negotiate prices: pay the amount the seller has listed, and the purchase is complete. Mercari also uses an escrow system, in which the buyer's payment and the seller's item are held by the platform until delivery is confirmed. This preventive approach to trust and safety has likely played a major role in the platform's steady growth.

Then on February 20, 2020, Mercari held its first-ever business strategy event, "Mercari Conference 2020." There, the company unveiled a new physical service called "Mercari Station"—a brick-and-mortar location where users can learn how to use the app and also pack and ship the items they sell. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the event itself was held only as a livestream. At the time, however, very few companies were canceling in-person attendance at their events, and Mercari's pioneering infection-control measures and the conference itself were widely covered across television, newspapers, and online media. Several reporters who watched the livestream went on to write follow-up articles, which likely amplified the company's media exposure.

Mercari is already widely used by younger generations. For older users—such as seniors who have only recently started using smartphones—the increased media coverage helps build awareness, and the app is well positioned to keep growing as a service that is easy for anyone to use.

Have you ever used an educational app? With the state of emergency in place across Japan, schools nationwide have closed. Against this backdrop, educational apps have won strong support from parents—particularly mothers—who want to keep their children's learning habits intact. The standout among them is Think Think, a learning app that saw its user base grow by 122.2% from the previous month.

Think Think is an educational app that helps children develop thinking skills in an enjoyable way through puzzles, mazes, and shape-based exercises. Given that there are plenty of educational apps that focus on English, math, or kanji, why has a thinking-skills app like Think Think become so popular?

One major factor was likely the company's decision to offer all of its content—including paid courses—free of charge to children worldwide for one month, from March 1 to March 31. Beyond that, the app helps children playfully develop the kind of cognitive skills that aren't easily picked up through standard schoolwork: spatial reasoning, two-dimensional reasoning, trial and error, logic, and numerical thinking.
Being stuck at home with nothing but school assignments can quickly become exhausting. With Think Think, however, kids can take a break and still keep learning, and parents and children can enjoy the experience together. That made the app a particularly welcome resource during this period.

As someone who didn't grow up learning through apps, I found Think Think refreshing—and I'll admit I'm a bit envious of the learning environment kids have today. Even after the one-month free period, an enjoyable thinking-skills app like Think Think seems likely to remain in steady demand.

One app that has been rapidly gaining users is Picable. Picable lets people watch the same video together while chatting in real time. Even when users are physically far apart, they can share the same screen at the same moment—an experience that has made the app especially popular with young people and couples.

Why is it that, beyond simply talking on the phone, the ability to share a screen or share an experience is winning so much support from younger users right now?

Looking into it, I found that Picable was originally built for couples in long-distance relationships. The ability to plan your next date together while sharing the same screen feels a bit like flipping through a travel book together at a bookstore: it makes the other person feel closer. That intimate quality sets it apart from other communication tools.

Then, with COVID-19 changing daily life for younger users—keeping them at home and, at times, leaving them feeling anxious or isolated—Picable offers a way to watch a movie or play a game together with a partner or friend. That ability to feel close to someone even at a distance is exactly what users were looking for, and it has likely fueled the surge in downloads.

Not long ago, "apps" usually meant games, but today they are increasingly used as tools for shopping and communication.
Lately, the apps gaining popularity are those that let users get the things they love without leaving home, or easily talk to the people they want to stay in touch with.
The impact of COVID-19 has driven dramatic changes in the everyday services we rely on—work, learning, shopping, and entertainment alike—as they reshape themselves for the times.
And as 5G continues to roll out, the nature of these services will likely keep evolving even further.