[anon(9353145)]

Interesting article in the Toronto Star about evolving mobile usage.

Study finds Canadians using fewer apps on their smartphones | Toronto Star

Link to the full report here: The Canadian Mobile Market in 2015 | Catalyst Canada

1,100 participated in the study (a decent sample size). Findings:

- More people are buying smartphones, but that usage is evolving, with fewer apps being downloaded and more in-home use.
- smartphone use grew by 24 per cent, with ownership increasing from 55 to 65 per cent in 2015
- app usage slowed except among younger users, with almost every age group downloading fewer apps than in the previous year
- people are being more selective about the real estate on their smartphone�s real estate, in terms of battery usage, space that it might take up on their phone and how useful the app is specifically
- many Canadians prefer to use browser-based web apps, and that usage was climbing over stand-alone apps
- at-home usage increased while on the go usage declined
- In terms of smartphone frustrations, batteries, small screens, data limits and memory were cited as the biggest issues users had with their phones.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I think many of use have tried a number of Apps... but when it comes down to it, there is a pretty small number that we use on a regular basis.

And as an owner of a BlackBerry Z10, I can concur that I'm very careful about adding any apps that want to run in the background. Battery life is just too valuable a resource.

That is why I think if BlackBerry had focused on just the top 25 - 50 Apps at the launch of BB10, instead of all these little developer JAMS that they had - and their concern with quantity or quality, things "might" have turned out a little different. But that time is past.

[anon(9353145)]

Yes, I guess the thinking at the time was to get the numbers up. Fascinating that even amongst the 18 - 24 group who have the most apps on their phone, they found that on average they only used 9 apps in the last month (8.88). It's a Canadian study, but my guess is that they'd find similar results in many other countries. It would be great to see other studies on this subject.

Makes the case for building greater out of the box functionality on all mobile platforms, imho. And with the trend to bigger screens, it makes sense that people are increasingly just using the browser instead of specialty apps - easier to read, and less apps in background means longer battery life (as the larger screen obviously will add to battery drain).

Be interesting to see internal numbers on all App Stores for downloads, uninstalls, etc. but I doubt that's going to happen.

[Alberto8]

I rarely use more than 10 to 12 apps on a regular basis.

Posted via CB10

[Ment]

There is also the fact that top apps continue to add features outside of their initial use case. They want the user to be sticky to their app, the prime example being Facebook.

[anon(9353145)]

There is also the fact that top apps continue to add features outside of their initial use case. They want the user to be sticky to their app, the prime example being Facebook.

Yes, that's a good example, as well as what BlackBerry is attempting with BBM and Blend (and I'm sure they'll extend Blend to Android and Apple phones soon if that's possible). Not counting gaming I think less is more when it comes to apps. I prefer out of the box and if I'm not happy with what is built in, I can look to extend / replace with third party apps if necessary. But yeah, I think the writing is on the wall and that you'll see a big contraction over the next 3 - 5 years. Jmho.

Unfortunate for developers overall I guess but I think that's the inevitable trend going forward on all platforms. Look at Apple bundling in their own Pay System, developing a streaming music service to compete with Spotify, their Healthkit, etc...