A few years ago when someone mentioned the word, ‘App,’ we would assume they were talking about ‘appetizers,’ but not anymore. Now when the conversation turns to ‘App,’ we immediately think of Apps we use on a mobile device – my, have times changed. We just cannot get enough Apps, but a recent study from Fiksu DSP tell us that while we are still willing to download Apps, we do not always use them once we try them out. The use of Apps is no longer restricted to just mobile devices, as they begin to spread out to Smart TVs and beyond.
The surge in downloads stems from a decrease in overall costs, so more people are willing to outright purchase an App or download a ‘free’ App that charges you as features are added. Memory on smartphones has increased or is cheaply added, so storing an App on your device is no sacrifice to performance (in most cases), and you never know when you might need the application. During December 2016, the cost per purchasing users (CPP) dropped considerably in December and raised only 4-percent in January 2017 – year-over-year costs rose 11-percent. It was less expensive to acquire a purchasing user on Android than iOS over the last year, and while consumers are more than willing to try the many new apps, most have had a smartphone for years and already have their particular favorites and revert to them. This happens more with an iPhone, so App developers like to target Android users that seem more willing to try new things.
The study looks at the types of operating systems and the type of devices as well that Android users are dealing with. The best and more complex Apps will work with the latest OS, which is Android 6.0 Marshmallow in this study since Android 7.0 Nougat is just being released and updated to devices. Marshmallow, Lollipop, and Jelly Bean take into account close to 90-percent of the active Android devices. This defragmentation is the one Achilles heel of Android.
The top Android manufacturers should come as no surprise with Samsung leading the pack at almost 70-percent. The rest are battling for second place – Huawei at 4.8-percent, Lenovo 4.0-percent, Motorola, and Sony at 3.9-percent, LGE at 3.6-percent, and LG at 2.1-percent. HTC, ASUS, and Xiaomi are all under 2.0-percent and above 1.0-percent. Within the manufacturers, the Samsung Galaxy S6 tops the list, followed by the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S5, and Galaxy S7 Edge.