Nonetheless, the latest numbers published by Distimo suggest Nokia's Ovi Store has the highest share of apps exclusive to one specific country of any mobile marketplace, with Apple's App Store for iPad conversely accounting for the fewest.
Local shop for local people
The firm's study of global marketplaces concludes that, of its entire libary, 29.4 percent of apps are available in one country only - a figure way out ahead of its nearest rival, App Store for iPhone on 5.2 percent.
One of the main causes behind this trend, Distimo concludes, is the popularity of wallpapers and ringtones in some markets, such as Italy, and publishing restrictions in others, such as China.
For example, publishers 3 and Dada have released a total of 8,000 apps exclusively in Italy, their ringtones and wallpapers accounting for 9 percent of Ovi's entire library in the country.
"In China," Distimo adds, "games can only be published through the licensed aggregators KongZhong and Tom Online [on Ovi]. Similarly, videos can only be published by the publisher CNR.
"Together, these three publishers publish 5,845 apps just in China."
Speaking the same language
Arguably of more relevance to western developers, however, is the suggestion that, while the US has the largest number of unique apps on the App Store for iPhone, the country has formed something of a cultural block with the UK, Australia and Canada.
These three countries have the highest share of 'overlapped apps' with the US than other territories around the globe.
The reason? All four nations speak English as their first language.
"The US has the least overlap with Japan and China, which are the Apple App Store's two most localised countries," Distimo concludes.
"The block of English speaking countries is not the only block of countries that share a high similarity in the most popular applications.
"Other blocks of countries...are: Mexico and Argentina (overlap 60 percent), Belgium, the Netherlands and France (average overlap 51 percent), and Germany, Austria and Switzerland."
You can download Distimo's report for August from the firm's website.
