Dive Brief:
- Messaging apps get the most use on smartphones in major markets including the U.K., Germany, Japan, and Korea, according to new research from App Annie, in terms of sessions and total time spent.
- Only in the United States does social media lead, with Facebook and Instagram apps taking the most time out of smartphone users’ days and Facebook leading in sessions.
- App Annie’s first survey of mobile usage culled data from millions of users in 60 countries, including mostly data from Android OS devices.
Dive Insight:
App Annie has released a new study of Android users’ mobile data that suggests that communications or messaging apps are becoming the leading apps worldwide in terms of sessions launched and time spent. Among the five leading smartphone markets, only in the United States did social media apps edge out messaging, thanks to heavy Facebook and Instagram use.
New forays into commerce through these messaging apps show the promise they have for retail: just this week, peer-to-peer chat app Tango announced that it will offer some two million products from Wal-Mart and Alibaba on its new shoppable catalog.
The Communication and Social categories dominated the study's rankings, accounting for more than 40% of smartphone sessions and time spent in five leading markets worldwide. Google’s Chrome browser app was among the top three apps in the United States, U.K., Germany, and Japan, however, indicating that many Android users are switching from mobile web to mobile app fast. WhatsApp, Line, and KakaoTalk dominated mobile messaging outside the United States, where Snapchat leads.