By A new study from Nielsen shows that Android users spend about an hour a day using their phone for everything but talking – 56 minutes, to be exact. Of those minutes, 67% are spent in apps while 33$ are spent inside the web browser. It’s an interesting study to consider when wondering if you should focus more on a native application or if you should focus on a mobile version of your service or website.
Another piece of related data shows that most people tend to spend 43% of that hour using top 10 apps, while 61% of time is spent using apps 1-50. This statistic isn’t as useful because niche apps and startup apps tend to develop sizable userbases irregardless of its status in the top apps list. Do you guys use apps as much as this survey suggests you do?
When the browser lags as much as it does, why would you use it?
Well designed native apps are always a better choice than a mobile version of a website.
I’m not sure why, but I find myself using apps a lot more on my phone and the browser a lot more on my tablet. I mean, part of that is that it’s a lot easier to use the full-view website in the tablet, and usually the app lacks functionality, even when it is optimized for tablets.
But really, unless there’s functionality that an app has that can’t be done in a web browser (offline caching, uploading images from your gallery, etc), I prefer mobile websites to apps.
Back when I had a tablet, I’d say something similar, but my reason was because of the screen real estate……and the fact that honeycomb doesn’t have that many apps yet
If there’s a custom app, it’s usually easier than using the browser to hit the website.
so, yeah, I much prefer a native app, to having to use browser interface. IMHO
I agree to all, but there is one exception and that is Facebook.
The mobile version of Facebook is way faster and more usable than the app, the app just sucks.
Agreed… FriendCaster FTW though.
Its because of the phandroid app I know phandroid. So apps equal to mobile web is an understatement…
Wait, so, is this saying that people only use their phones for non calling/texting for 56 minutes per day on average? Wow, I am in the top 2 or 3 percent then. No wonder my battery dies in about 5-6 hours. I probably use it 4+ hours a day for non-voice purposes
duh
Duh!
The browser is a hassle with most sites having to pan and zoom all the time. Apps do not have this problem.
Google maps – app
Gmail – app
Youtube – browser
Movie schedules- app
android market – app
That was to be expected, except for the youtube part, but for the rest I use the Browser versions or apps that don’t have browser versions (whatsapp, soundhound, amazon appstore, n1 flashlight, file explorer)
Obviously, cause there are not many good Apps, so they have to spend a lot of time looking for one…. :) lol
I don’t think anyone should waste time with mobile web sites. I bought a smartphone and tablet to experience the web on the go. Not a dummied down version of it that barely functions. Phones and tablets are powerful enough to handle it. Mobile websites piss me off :-P
No kiddin sherlock
I definitely prefer apps to the browser. I can’t believe that the average android user only uses non-texting/talking for 56 minutes a day, though. That seems extremely low to me. If you’re going to have a sweet phone, you might as well get the most out of it, right?
Definitely. In a related story, WebOS is being discontinued
That what apps are for or why download them.