Ahead of the game
A fascinating study from mobile market researcher Flurry has concluded that mobile has finally become the mass market media channel everyone had hoped it would be, thanks to the advent of the app. This makes it the eighth mass market media channel apparently, after print, recordings, cinema, radio, television and the web.
Flurry has looked into mobile app use across the five big markets in Western Europe, and revealed that the UK is by far the most advanced in terms of consumer app use. This first chart shows just how far we are ahead of the chasing pack in terms of people actively using apps on their smartphones in May of this year.
It was estimated that across all five countries there are roughly 46 million devices using apps, out of a population aged 13 or over of 240 million - around 20 percent penetration. However a third of the population over 13 is regularly mucking about with apps in the UK. At current rates it's estimated all five countries will have full smartphone penetration within two years.
This last table is interesting; it shows the proportion of apps used per country according to category. Games are generally the most popular, except in Italy where social networking is the number one app requirement. Here in the UK we seem to be keener than most on sports and entertainment apps, while the Spanish are fans of news on the move.
The worldwide average for six-month app retention - i.e. app still being used at least six months after it was downloaded - is 36 percent. It's a bit higher in the UK and lower in Spain and Italy, with Flurry noting there's a correlation between the maturity of the market an app retention. More experienced app users have a better idea of what they want, it seems.
