Despite the availability of nearly 1 million unique apps worldwide, our
smartphone panellists used an average of only 32.6 apps each during the
two-month observation period.
This report profiles the real-world usage of more than 1000 smartphone users
across France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA during a two-month
observation period. The information presented in this report includes
worldwide app usage by operating system and by age, entertainment and utility
app consumption trends, and insights into operator apps and new verticals such
as mobile health.
This Report provides:
insight into real-world smartphone usage behaviour by handset
manufacturer, operating system (OS), country, age and gender
the penetration and usage of apps by category, handset manufacturer, OS,
country and age
real-world browsing usage and the resulting impact on the app market
how operating systems and application store strategies affect app
consumption by category of apps
analysis of usage of rich-media apps such as Netflix and Spotify
social networking usage and its positioning as a replacement for
text-based communications services
the penetration and usage of apps published by operators by country and by
OS
insight into the real-world usage of utility and m-commerce apps including
retailers' apps and cloud services
in-depth analysis of opportunities in new verticals in the app ecosystem
such as mobile health and e-books.
About the author
Ronan de Renesse (Principal Analyst) is the lead analyst for Analysys
Mason's Mobile Content and Applications and Mobile Broadband and Devices
programmes. His primary areas of specialisation include rich media
applications and services on mobile, application store forecasting, mobile
broadband, tablets and smartphone adoption. Ronan has been analysing the
telecoms and media industry since 2003. Prior to joining Analysys Mason, Ronan
was a Senior Analyst and the Head of Mobile at IHS Screen Digest, where he had
overall responsibility for the Mobile Media Intelligence service and all
related activities. For the past five years, Ronan has led the conception and
development of various mobile media and technology forecasts, including those
for mobile video, mobile music, mobile games, mobile applications, mobile
broadband and smartphones.
About Analysys Mason
Analysys Mason's research service provides in-depth assessments of key
industry issues. Our research covers consumer and enterprise services, as well
as the software, infrastructure and technology underlying those services. Our
programmes offer a mixture of qualitative and quantitative market
intelligence. The result is an essential resource for strategic planning,
investment, marketing and benchmarking.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
7. Executive summary
8. A surprisingly small number of apps drive the smartphone content and
app market
9. Many niche apps categories present significant opportunities for the
industry
10. Key implications and recommendations
11. Key implications and recommendations for operators [1]
12. Key implications and recommendations for operators [2]
13. Key implications and recommendations for operators [3]
14. Key implications and recommendations for vendors and developers
15. Introduction and panel characteristics
16. Real-world usage: we measured consumer smartphone usage via an
on-device monitoring application, in partnership with Arbitron Mobile
17. Comparing the characteristics of passive on-device smartphone usage
monitoring with ‘traditional' questionnaire-based consumer surveys
18. The smartphone user panel was designed to be representative of the
smartphone market in the countries covered
19. More than 50% of our smartphone panel were Android users in all
countries except Spain
20. Apple and HTC accounted for almost half of the smartphones monitored
in our panel
21. Android addresses the widest range of smartphone profiles
22. Mobile apps: consumption trends and insights, impact of devices and customer segmentation
23. Pre-installed ‘platform' apps continue to dominate communication
and utility app use, but add-on apps are gaining ground
24. Mobile content and apps are gaining ground on legacy communication
services in terms of share of consumer time spent on the smartphone
25. More panellists accessed utility and social networking apps than games
apps
26. Browsing is a key part of the mobile content experience, driven by
searching and Internet links in apps
27. Browsing increases as more apps are used, indicating that the two
methods of accessing content are complementary
28. Most categories of add-on apps were used for less than 2 minutes per
day by each user, even if they have achieved widespread penetration
29. Unlike other handsets, vendors and/or operators must maintain
smartphones
30. The operating system clearly has an impact on the take-up of apps -
most app categories enjoy more than 50% penetration on Android and iOS
31. Average frequency of usage for all apps on iOS and Android is diluted
by high levels of one-time use of ‘long-tail' apps
32. The success of an app distribution strategy is driven by quality of
experience, rather than simply by offering a wide choice of apps
33. More than 90% of iPhone and Android panellists accessed OS-specific
application stores
34. 18 - 34 year olds are clearly driving the app market, but this will
change as older people increasingly move onto Android devices
35. App tastes vary across different age groups - pleasing people in the
18 - 34 age category should not be the top priority for all app providers
36. Most smartphone panellists used between 10 and 30 apps during the
observation period, with younger users tending to use relatively more
37. Rich-media applications: games, music and TV change smartphones into media players
38. The iPhone prevails as a media consumption device
39. Gaming [1]: mobile games are most used on Android-based smartphones
with users playing on average nearly five games in two months
40. Gaming [2]: several casual games account for the bulk of games usage
41. TV and video: Netflix gets high levels of engagement from a small
subset of panellists, while YouTube gets scale with high penetration rates
42. Music: on-demand services are used as much as radio, but are not as
widely adopted
43. Social networking and operator apps: consumers manage their own communication services
44. Social networking [1]: dating apps are more addictive than Facebook,
although more panellists used Facebook
45. Social networking [2]: social networks are not leading OTT
communications yet; only 3.4% of panellists used Facebook IM
46. Operator apps [1]: nearly 30% of smartphone panellists used at least
one app published by an operator
47. Operator apps [2]: panellists in France and the USA adopt operator
apps at least twice as much as they do in other countries
48. Operator apps [3]: iOS is not necessarily the best choice for operator
app distribution
49. Utility apps: transforming convenience into transactions with m-commerce
50. Utility [1]: handset management, weather, calculator and notepad apps
dominate the utility category
51. Utility [2]: Android opens up smartphones to the downloadable utility
app market, imitating the PC market
52. Utility [3]: the most popular utility cloud services have low
penetration, but note-taking apps and social networking may drive adoption
53. M-commerce [1]: mobile applications published by established online
retailers are the most popular
54. M-commerce [2]: Amazon and eBay are the leaders in this market, but
local retailers are gaining some ground
55. New app verticals: opportunities in location services, mobile health and e-books
56. Google Maps leads the maps market - more than 70% of iPhone and
Android panellists used the app regularly
57. Nearly 11% of smartphone panellists used an m-health app during the
observation period
58. E-books are not just for tablet owners; one in four iPhone panellists
used an e-reader app
59. National news providers dominate the news apps market
60. Methodology and definitions
61. Methodology and definitions [1]
62. Methodology and definitions [2]
63. Methodology and definitions [3]
64. About Arbitron Mobile and The Connected Consumer Survey
65. About the author and Analysys Mason
66. About the author
67. About Analysys Mason
68. Research from Analysys Mason
69. Consulting from Analysys Mason
List of figures
Figure 1: Selected panel statistics related to the use of smartphone
content and apps during the observation period
Figure 2: Penetration rate versus average daily minutes of face time per
panellist by category of user-downloaded app
Figure 3: Illustration of Analysys Mason - Arbitron smartphone data
analysis process
Figure 4: Characteristics of different types of primary research
Figure 5: Number of smartphone users in our panel, by country, August and
September 2011
Figure 6: Panel of smartphone users by smartphone operating system
Figure 7: Panel of smartphone users by age group
Figure 8: Panel of smartphone users by operating system and country
Figure 9: Panel of smartphone users, by vendor
Figure 10: Android panellists and add-on app usage by versions of the
operating system
Figure 11: Android device models represented in the panel, by smartphone
segment
Figure 12: Proportion of platform and add-on apps used by smartphone
panellists, by number and face time
Figure 13: Average face-time value per smartphone respondent, by category
of app
Figure 14: Proportion of smartphone panellists who used at least one app
during the observation period, by category
Figure 15: Average usage per smartphone respondent by category
Figure 16: Distribution of panellists by number of add-on apps used and
corresponding average browsing face-time per user
Figure 17: Add-on app categories penetration rate versus average face-time
value for users of the apps
Figure 18: Share of Android OS versions and use of add-on apps among
Android-user panellists, by handset vendor
Figure 19: App/service category penetration among smartphone panellists,
by operating system
Figure 20: Number of add-on apps per user by usage frequency and
operating system
Figure 21: Penetration of top 50 add-on apps by operating system
Figure 22: Face-time value by operating system for the top 100 apps
Figure 23: Penetration of dedicated application stores among panellists
Figure 24: Share of smartphone panellists using other application stores,
by OS type
Figure 25: Age group distribution for each app category
Figure 26: Penetration of app categories within each age group
Figure 27: Share of smartphone panellists by age group and number of apps
used per panellist
Figure 28: Share of smartphone panellists by age group for different OSs
Figure 29: App/service media category penetration among panellists, by
operating system
Figure 30: Mobile gaming use among smartphone panellists, by OS
Figure 31: Share of total daily mobile game face-time value among
panellists, by OS
Figure 32: Top-10 mobile games by share of users in the smartphone panel
Figure 33: TV app penetration rate versus average face-time value for
users of the apps
Figure 34: Music app penetration rate versus average face-time value for
users of the apps
Figure 35: Share of smartphone panellists who used at least one
application per category of social networking apps
Figure 36: Share of average daily social networking app face-time usage,
among social networking app users, by app publisher
Figure 37: Penetration of Google Talk within Google+ users and Facebook IM
within Facebook users in our panel and vice versa
Figure 38: Share of smartphone panellists using the app at least once, by
type
Figure 39: Daily use of operator apps - share of face-time value, by type
of app
Figure 40: Share of panellists using an operator app at least once, by
type and by country
Figure 41: Share of panellists who used an operator app at least once
Figure 42: Share of panellists using at least one operator app, by OS
Figure 43: Share of smartphone panellists using at least one application
per category of utility apps
Figure 44: Share of smartphone panellists using at least one app per
category of utility apps, by OS
Figure 45: Penetration and app usage for utility categories presenting
opportunities for cloud services
Figure 46: Add-on app categories penetration rate versus average face-time
value for users of the apps
Figure 47: Penetration of retail apps among smartphone panellists (in
selected countries)
Figure 48: Share of smartphone panellists using Google Maps and other maps
app at least once during the observation period, by OS
Figure 49: Share of smartphone panellists using at least one add-on app in
each category
Figure 50: Share of smartphone panellists using a mobile health
application at least once, by OS
Figure 51: Share of smartphone panellists using at least one app per
category, by OS
Figure 52: Share of total daily face-time value for e-reader apps, by app
publisher
Figure 53: Share of smartphone panellists within each country using a
local news app at least once
Figure 54: Utility app categorisation examples
Figure 55: Entertainment app categorisation examples
Consumer smartphone usage: mobile apps and entertainment consumption published by Analysys Mason in June 28, 2012. This report price starts from US $ 4999.
