CHINA, already the world's biggest mobile phone market, is now close to snatching the mobile application installation base crown from the United States, thanks to a huge mass of mobile device users and great potential in the smartphone market, research firms said yesterday.

By the end of October, China's Apple iOS application installation base among iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users accounted for 13 percent of the global level, second only to the US with 29 percent, iResearch Inc, a Shanghai-based Internet consulting firm said yesterday.

In February, China passed the US for the first time in new activations of iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, according to US-based Flurry Inc, a maker of software for tracking use of mobile applications.

"China's large population and emerging middle class make it an increasingly important market," iResearch said in a report yesterday.

The installed base gap between China and the US is closing because "not only is China already the second-largest app economy, but also could eventually overtake the US with the largest installed base of smart device users," Flurry said.

Last month, 23 percent of activations of mobile devices based on iOS or Google's Android software occurred in China, compared with 22 percent in the US.

Comparatively, China accounted for 8 percent of the world's activations, while the US led with 28 percent in January 2011, Flurry said.