Six Angry Birds downloads for every 10 smartphones in Singapore: Rovio senior VP

While it’s no surprise that Angry Birds is huge in Singapore, Asia, and any place not named Antarctica, having some figures do put things into perspective.

I got them from Henri Holm, senior vice-president for Rovio Entertainment, who was in Singapore last Friday (1st June) to attend the launch of the world’s first-ever Angry Birds themed cable cars.

He revealed that for every ten smartphones in Singapore, there are six Angry Birds downloads.

If we use this study as a gauge, there would be 4.5 million smartphone users in Singapore, and three million Angry Birds downloads in the country alone. 

“Singapore ranks very high in terms of fan engagement,” he said.

Singapore Cable Car is a mainstay in the country for decades. The tie-up with Rovio is part of its ten-month refurbishment project to maintain relevant to Singaporeans and tourists.

Besides having its cable cars wrapped in Angry Birds motifs and decorated with fake grass patches as well as Angry Birds plushies, mascots will be making their rounds to entertain kids. Rounding off the festivities, which will last from now to December, is a carnival where kids can play Angry Birds on interactive kiosks, win exclusive memorabilia, and fling actual projectiles off a real-life slingshot.

There are other practical reasons for Rovio to hold these activities in Singapore.

While Singapore may be small in comparison to other Asian countries, it is seen as a prominent tourist destination for the whole of Southeast Asia.

The intention is to draw tourists from neighboring countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, which also has huge Angry Birds followings. Recently, Rovio collaborated with Kasikorn Bank in Thailand to launch Angry Birds ATM cards — with corresponding Angry Birds themed ATM screens.

Farther afield, China has become a lucrative market for Rovio.  Henri told Bloomberg that the company has surpassed 100 million downloads — that’s ten percent of Angry Birds global total of one billion.

Yet he told me that the amount of fan rabidness isn’t anywhere near its peak.

With Angry Birds becoming a prominent facet of life in both the digital and physical world, it looks like Angry Birds haters, who can’t stand the squeaky birds, don’t have many places to hide.

Moving forward, Rovio has planned a follow-up, another physics-orientated game called Amazing Alex. They’re also moving towards an IPO, although details are sketchy at this stage.

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