App usage is still outpacing mobile web according to GSMA

Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, once believed that mobile applications were nothing more than a passing fad. However, even when that statement was made, it was very evident that apps weren’t just a fad, but sales and downloads were surpassing what we could have ever imagined. In fact, Apple recently awarded $10,000 in iTunes credit to Gail Davis, whose iTunes account had the honor of downloading the app store’s 10 billionth app.

Last week, the GSM Association, or GSMA, and analytics firm Zokem highlighted a study where app usage was compared with messaging, voice and web usage. When it comes to the number of minutes we spend on each feature, messaging is still number one, followed closely by apps and voice, and web usage is down below in fourth place.

ReadWriteWeb does note, however, that there are some areas where mobile web still sees heavy usage:

Although, in total, apps are overtaking the Web in terms of usage, there are certain categories where the mobile Web is still used heavily. News, search and commerce categories receive more usage from mobile Web browsers, with 86%, 85% and 66% of mobile Web browser users using them monthly, respectively, says Zokem.

So this is by no means the death of mobile web usage, but it’s pretty evident that app usage is increasing tremendously with no slowing in sight. After all, apps can provide a much more rich experience when you want to do something specific versus the web. And we’re not even considering games, entertainment apps with videos and interactive content and much more.

[Via: RWW]