Facebook tops usage numbers, but many US smartphone owners don’t even download apps

There may be a growing number of apps for smartphones, but people in the US tend to cling to the few they like and shun the rest, an industry tracker says.

Nearly two-thirds of US smartphone owners download no apps monthly, comScore said in its Mobile App Report. Further, the report stated that nearly half of all app — mini-programmes — downloads were done by just 7% of smartphone owners in any given month.

Fun, functional or hip apps for smartphones or tablets are seen by analysts as key to the popularity of the devices, and rivals such as Apple, Google and Microsoft work hard to get developers to tailor apps to devices powered by their software.

App Store boasts billions of titles available for users of devices powered by the California company’s software.

While more than half of US smartphone owners accessed apps on their gadgets daily, ‘a staggering’ 42% of time was spent in just their favorite app, according to comScore.

“Americans have a difficult time living without their mobile devices, as evidenced by the vast majority of consumers using apps on their smartphones and tablets nearly every day,” comScore said in the report.

However, nearly three of every four minutes spent using apps was in any of four preferred mini-programs.

According to the report, social networking, entertainment and messaging accounted for much of the time spent using mobile apps in the United States. And further, internet titans Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay accounted for nine of the top-10 most used apps. Facebook in fact, has been stated as the top application in terms of audience size and share of time spent by smartphone users.

It has also been observed in the study that people using iPhones spend large shares of their ‘app time’ on general news, radio, photos, social networking, and weather. And those opting for Android-powered devices devoted a greater share of their time to online search and email.

The annual income of a median iPhone app user was $85,000, compared to $61,000 made in a year by a median Android user, comScore reported.

Asus Zenfone 4 Now Up for Sale at Rs. 5,999 via Flipkart: 10 Smartphone Rivals Facing the Heat

Asus is one of those companies striving hard to make a name for itself in the Indian handset market. And while the market is anyway an open one, the number of companies already present in the mix is a serious threat for whoever wants to enter it. However, keeping the hopes up, Asus recently unveiled the brand new Zenfone 4. As of now, the handset has been made available for the Indian market. Users can pre-order the smartphone from online retail site Flipkart at a price of Rs. 5,999. However, the Asus Zenfone 4 (A450CG) would ship in the first week of September, which is next week. Recommended: Top 10 Smartphones with Full Metal Body To Buy in India Going through the specs of the handset once more, Asus Zenfone 4 features a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) capacitive multi touch display with Corning gorilla glass 3 protection. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2520 processor with PowerVR SGX544 GPU coupled with 1GB RAM. The handset runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with company's Zen UI slapped over it. In the imaging aspect, buyers will get to see 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing snapper. Recommended: 15 Best Smartphones That Cost Less than Rs 15,000 Talking about the internal storage capacity, users will get an 8GB internal memory, which would be expandable memory up to 64GB via microSD. Connectivity options include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and a Dual SIM with dual standby (micro SIMs). It is powered by a 1750 mAh battery. The latest smartphone from Asus might be the cheapest smartphone with Android KitKat OS and 8MP rear camera. But then again, this isn't the only handset in the market that sports such specs. Hence we take a look at its top 10 rivals in the Indian market.