Saturday, February 5, 2011

Social Networking Apps More Popular than Game Apps

Smartphones have become an important part of our lives. With phones that can do much more than just calling and SMSing, entertainment as well as management of our everyday affairs have become the top functions of mobile phones today. As we all know, these can be performed using a plethora of applications (apps as we call them) that have been created for various platforms. Our phones are a home to many Games, News Feeds, Music, Social Networks and loads of other apps these days. Ever wondered what kind of apps are the most popular?

According to a global study by Nokia, social networking apps are the most popular in India. They are followed by music, business, utilities and games apps. This might have come as a surprise a few years back when social networks were not as popular as they are today. I mean, with one out of six people in the world being on Facebook, what did you expect? The survey further goes on to say that women (43 percent) are more active on social networks than men (38 percent), in India. A majority of 18-24 year-olds download and use social networking apps, the survey states.

What came as a shock was that 77 per cent of people in India have up to 30 apps on their smartphones, with men more likely to download an app (93 percent) than women (87 percent). According to the survey, most smartphone users frequently rely on apps throughout the day (48 percent) while a further 22 percent log on and use them two or three times a week. Also, 17 percent of Indians only download the free apps available for their phone via app stores.
While social network apps top the list of apps actually used by Indians, music and social networks apps top the list of apps downloaded by users. With our love for Bollywood and Bhangra, this doesn't surprise me.

Talking about global stats, Brazilians showed their appreciation for a party with 42 percent downloading music related apps including ringtones, track recognition, and music mags. Germans found functional apps such as alarm clocks and flashlight (29 percent) the most appealing, while Indians prefer business-focused apps like email and expense managers.

Nokia, along with Professor Trevor Pinch, Cornell University's sociologist and professor of science and technology studies, analyzed more than 5,200 smartphone users in 10 countries - India, Singapore, China, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and U.S. The study was aimed at gathering insights into the smartphone behavior of consumers in these countries.

via techtree 

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