ByteDance staff walk past the company logo outside the ByteDance headquarters building in Beijing on ... [+]
Telegram founder Pavel Durov just shared this with his Telegram followers: Chinese developers, whether here or in mainland China, are in command of the top two apps in the world with Facebook-owned apps dominating the rest of the top 10 most downloaded apps in the second quarter.
Zoom has really benefited from the pandemic. Zoom Video Communications was founded by Chinese ... [+]
TikTok remains in the pole position here despite threats of being banned in the U.S., and after being banned from downloading in India this month.
Zoom’s done well thanks to the pandemic, beating out other face-to-face meeting apps like Microsoft
For Durov, the fact that Telegram has jumped up three spots was welcome news. The Russian developer, now living in self-imposed exile in “parts unknown” (Dubai? Caribbean?), thanked Telegram fans on Thursday.
Outside of China and the U.S., Telegram is the only other foreign developed app on any of these lists. Sorry, Europe.
Telegram has made a name for itself thanks to Durov going against the Russian version of the FBI by not giving them encryption keys.
Telegram also rose to fame during the heyday of cryptocurrency, primarily when new startups were issuing their own coins in what was then called an initial coin offering. That market is basically dead now, but the crypto world remains and Telegram is still seen as the secure go-to for that community, among others who prefer something other than WhatsApp. Plus their “stickers” are cool, let’s admit.
“With every Telegram user, the power flows back from the corporations to the people,” Durov said to his 351 thousand subscribers to his personal channel on Thursday.
Facebook rules the roost when it comes to monthly active users, followed by Twitter. Telegram gained on Spotify and Netflix, however, in the second quarter versus the first.
