The App War: Facebook Leads Followed By Google Reveals Forrester Research

A study published on Monday by a research company Forrester "Mobile Platforms, Partners, and Power" reveals that smartphone users of the United States are spending considerable time on Facebook apps followed by Google.

The Report reads:

Google's scale gives it a clear leadership position in mobile, while Apple owns a smaller, but loyal, affluent mobile base. Though nascent as a platform, Facebook owns a large global audience and has a clear sense of purpose, centered on consumers' inherent desire and need to communicate and a solid plan for how to enhance that experience by integrating services in context.

As reported by Business Insider, the research company surveyed 2,000 odd smartphone users between October and December 2014. It was found that people spent 13% of their time of popular Facebook apps like Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, out of which a major share (11.5% of total time spent) is spent doing social networking - probably on Facebook's main app and Instagram. Facebook has the advantage of availing several opportunities to extend the platform and thus dominating social networking.

The study also shows that people spend roughly 12% of their time on Google apps. Google has a huge collection of apps - Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, and Calendar. Google’s biggest attraction has always been YouTube followed by Gmail and navigation apps. The respondents were asked to list the apps they downloaded along with the time from Google. This excluded pre-loaded apps on phones using Android operating system. The rising trend of using smartphone may create problems for Google, as users spend more time in apps than browsing the web.

Other big players in mobile like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo lag behind. Apple has a share of 3% users’ time. It was likely to be undercounted as most of the apps and services are pre-loaded on iPhones. Though Amazon leads in eCommerce but struggled beyond media.

Forrester researcher and analyst Julie A. Ask wrote in the report, “If you want to make money in mobile, build a killer platform.” Because she feels, “Apps are worth millions. Platforms are worth billions.”

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