Ever wondered how many hours do we spend a day on apps, or how many apps do we use at at a time? The Wall Street Journal blog details some pretty interesting statistics on apps, our use of apps, as well as the people who develop the apps that we use.
For example, the average smartphone user spends about two hours a day using apps – and 43% of that amount is spent on games instead of other categories of apps. At any given time, we only use about eight apps on our smart devices, with newer apps constantly making up the quota and replacing older ones. On a related note, it appears that apps have a short lifespan, too: 37% of apps that are frequently used today are different from those of a year ago.
The trends of apps themselves have evolved over the years. Many paid apps have shifted to a “freemium” model, where the app itself is free, but certain features within the app need to be purchased. The “freemium” model is becoming increasingly popular due to consumers who prefer not to shell out money to purchase apps outright or are put off by the high app price. This is also reflected by the fact that the proportion of free apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play are 56% and 72% respectively.
Which brings us to the app developers themselves. A GigaOm Pro web survey found that many developers do not make a lot of money, with the majority of popular apps developed by conglomerates such as Electronic Arts or Gameloft. Despite these challenges, 39% of those surveyed are full-time app developers.
There are several other interesting bits of information and infographics by WSJ, and can be read here.
(Image Source: apple.com)
