According to a January 2011 survey by Zokem Research, mobile apps attract almost as much mobile device use as messaging, and exceed the totals for voice calls and web browsing. The study, commissioned by GSMA’s Wireless Intelligence, reveals that mobile apps are responsible for 667 minutes of use per user each month, almost as much as messaging (671 minutes), and far more than voice (531 minutes) and web browsing (422 minutes).
When it comes to pre-installed vs apps downloaded by the users, the latter dominate in categories like entertainment (gaming included) and social networking. For “commodity” functionality such as browsing, messaging and voice, people are more likely to use the pre-installed software. Add-on apps made up to 20% of total face time and accounted for 30% of data traffic. In terms of actual usage, only two third-party apps have greater than 30% penetration – Facebook and YouTube.
When it comes to platform comparison, at average 15 apps used per months, iPhone and Android device owners are leading the way — compared to 8 apps used for BlackBerry and Symbian OS. Apple’s AppStore and Android Market have a monthly reach of 95% of their user bases, whereas Blackberry App World reaches 50% of Blackberry users, and Nokia Ovi store only 26% of Symbian users.
Overall smartphone usage drops at weekends, averaging at about 70 minutes per day with apps capturing more face time than any other (smartphone) activity. SMS usage was higher in the mornings than voice and usage of social networking apps is built up through the day and peaked at 9-10pm.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]