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| Source: Bitsmedia. Macé. |
The app has an average of almost 3 million active users monthly, and has seen downloads from 216 countries, primarily Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the UAE, but also from countries with large Muslim minorities like France, the US and the UK. Between 10,000 and 15,000 new users are added daily, but during the month of Ramadhan, downloads can shoot up to 100,000 a day.
Singapore-based mobile apps factory Bitsmedia, the creator of Muslim Pro, believes that there is much more potential for growth since smartphones have yet to penetrate heavily into emerging markets.
“Once smart phones have become a necessity in emerging markets like they are now for other parts of the world, we can expect Muslim Pro’s user base to increase by up to three times,” said Bitsmedia CEO Erwan Macé. “In addition to that, new platforms and additional community apps are always being developed which will further contribute to an increase in downloads.”
Mace decided to develop Muslim Pro to fill a gap in the prayer time apps market. Besides providing accurate prayer times based on a user’s location, Muslim Pro includes worldwide qibla directions, an adhan clock, and is integrated with location-based application Foursquare to locate halal restaurants and mosques.
“Muslim Pro remains our core app, both in terms of revenue and team priorities,” said Mace. “We are in the midst of working on a few separate yet related applications to extend the reach of Muslim Pro beyond just religion — these further developments will help address Islam as a culture and a community as well.”
Muslim Pro is the first Islamic app to be translated in 15 languages. Already available for iOS and Android, Muslim Pro has also just been released on BlackBerry World (for BB10 devices) this month. Bitsmedia is also working on a Windows Phone 8 version. A web version of the application is also available at www.muslimpro.com.