Measured By Use Frequency, Facebook Is Over Three Times More Popular
Google App Portfolio Also Has Significant Numbers of Users
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners released analysis of the most frequently used apps for US phone buyers in the calendar quarter that ended December 31, 2013. Based on that analysis, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) dominates mobile apps, with over three times the usage of the next most popular app, Twitter.
CIRP analyzed survey data in which phone buyers named the three most frequently used apps on their mobile phones. 50% of buyers identified Facebook as one of their three most frequently used (see chart). Candy Crush Saga and Twitter are the second- and third-most frequently used apps, with 15% and 13% of phone buyers naming them among the three most frequently used apps.
Most Frequently Used Apps
Facebook just dominates mobile phones, in terms of most frequent use, not just downloads. For most other apps, including some well-known ones like YouTube and Pandora, fewer than 10% of phone buyers included them among the most frequently used.
CIRP also analyzed app producers, or the companies that produce multiple apps, to see which companies have a significant presence on mobile phones. By that measure, Facebook also has a substantial presence on mobile phones, with the #1 and #4 apps: Facebook and Instagram. 54% of phone owners cite one or both of these among their three most frequently used apps (see chart).
Most Frequently Represent App Producers
Google also has a decent share of frequent app usage. It produces apps that 29% of buyers cite as among the most frequently used, including YouTube, Gmail, Chrome, and Google Maps. Aside from Twitter and King, the company that produces Candy Crush Saga, no other producer accounts for more than 8% of frequent use.
CIRP based these findings on its survey of 500 phone buyers that activated a mobile phone in the US in October-December 2013.
For additional information, please contact CIRP.