Nielsen: Android Users Spend More Time on Mobile Apps

Nielsen has come out with some very interesting behavior patterns among Android users in their recently released study.  They reported that on the average, an Android user spends 56 minutes on the mobile Web. 

However, Android users are actually spending more time on mobile apps than they are browsing the mobile Web.  In fact, they spend around 2/3s of those 56 minutes on mobile apps.

BeQRious.com has always said that people would soon use mobile apps more than they would a mobile browser.  This is because apps provide an easier interface with less tapping and text input than browsers ever could.  This translates to a better online experience with apps.

And this trend could very well be the trend of the future.  We predict that in time people would eschew mobile browsers and will just use apps instead.

But the Nielsen report also comes with some bit of bad news.  They report that only the top 10% of all Android apps are being used.  In fact, 43% of those minutes being spent on apps are done on these apps.  The top 50 apps are responsible for around 60% of the time spent on mobile apps.

What does this mean?

This might mean that you would have to work harder on developing and conceptualizing your own app if you want to compete in the other 60% not owned by the top 50 Android apps.  With close to 250,000 apps now on the Android Market, that’s a pretty crowded market.

But it also presents a very good opportunity to get a niche following.  If you get a great app on the market, then it would be easy to get and build on a loyal following.

Information Week’s Eric Zeman writes that 40% of the top 10 free and top 10 paid apps on the Android Market, 40% of these are games, while the other 60% is composed of utilities and social media apps.