Facebook, Google Maps reign supreme in mobile market
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Facebook and Google Maps are the most popular smart phone applications, Nielsen found in a recent study.
According to the organization, 21% of all wireless subscribers in the U.S. now own smart phones. And that has helped developers see a strong increase in the number of apps users download. In fact, the average iPhone owner has 37 applications installed. Android owners use an average of 22 apps, while BlackBerry users download just 10 applications on average.
When they download those applications, they’re increasingly opting for games. Nielsen found that 65% of all smart phone owners download games. About 56% of folks download news or weather apps, while 55% of smart phone owners download map apps. Social networking apps were the fourth-most-popular category, with 54% of users downloading those apps.
But when it comes to individual apps, it’s Facebook and Google Maps that reign supreme on every mobile platform.
According to Nielsen, Facebook was used by 58% of all iPhone owners over the last 30 days. The iPhone’s iPod was used by 48% of folks, and Google Maps was used by 47% of users.
When it comes to BlackBerry OS, Facebook was being used by 51%, while Google Maps was used by 34%. The Weather Channel app came in third with 28% usage.
As expected, Google Maps was the most popular app on for the Android OS, with 67% of users loading it up. Facebook captured 50% usage. The Weather Channel once again came in third place on Android with 38% usage.
Facebook was also the most popular app on other smart phone operating systems.
--Don Reisinger