People want fewer apps, data shows

Clearly, people use apps all the time because comScore reports that users spend 42 percent of the total time they're on their smart phones in their single most-used app.

Clearly, people use apps all the time because comScore reports that users spend 42 percent of the total time they're on their smart phones in their single most-used app.

Published Sep 2, 2014

Share

Washington - Google and Apple's mobile platforms each boast about 1.2 million apps, and the race to develop hit apps seems endless.

But using data from the digital analytics firm comScore, Quartz points out a surprising trend: most smart phone owners in the US download zero apps a month.

Actually, maybe it’s not so surprising. How often do you download a new app?

For most of the non-tech journalists I know, zero in a typical month sounds about right. And the comScore data shows that 65.5 percent of smart phone users in the US are doing – or not doing – the same thing.

In total, the people who download more than none represent about a third of smart phone users (8.4 percent download one app a month, 2.4 percent eight or more a month.)

Clearly, people use apps all the time because comScore reports that users spend 42 percent of the total time they’re on their smart phones in their single most-used app.

So perhaps people are downloading the set of apps they want and then pretty much sticking with them long-term, or they don't want to dig through the junk to find quality apps they might like.

The latest thing in apps should be fewer apps. – Slate

Related Topics: