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Report: iPhone, Android, Blackberry users use the same apps

by Mike Schramm Jan 13th 2010 at 10:00PM

I'm not sure if this is a fascinating peek at the way we're wired or an obvious conclusion based on reason, but I'll let you decide. Despite the fact that they seem to be polar opposites on Internet forums and comment sections, Android, Blackberry, and iPhone users all end up using mostly the same apps. That's according to an "app discovery service" over on Facebook called Mplayit, which tracked 42,000 visitors and the apps they preferred for a set of "genres." Turns out that for the various categories, the same cross-platform apps tended to be the most popular on the different platforms. Evernote topped the charts for Lists and Notes, Shazam and Pandora were on all three lists for music, and apps like Yelp and Facebook sat high on the chart for multiple platforms. In the end, an app is an app is an app, "app"arently, and it doesn't really matter which platform you're using it on.

There were a few difference of course -- in the "Utilities" section, things were different for each platform. Bump is the most popular for iPhone, Google Goggles was most popular on Android, and Vlingo won on Blackberry. As far as I know, with the possible exception of Bump, those are all platform-exclusive apps. But in general, if an app is available on multiple platforms, a popular app on one platform means it'll be popular on the other. Good to know both for developers (a hit in one place means a hit somewhere else, too) and for consumers: next time you choose a smartphone, the apps probably won't matter as much as the hardware features.

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I'm not sure if this is a fascinating peek at the way we're wired or an obvious conclusion based on reason, but I'll let you decide....
 

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20 Comments

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iphone applications development

Android, Blackberry and other platforms dont necessarily need to match Apple's 100, 000 apps, they need to offer the best and the brightest, as well as the same utility and features iPhone apps have. And i think Smartphone users just want to get the job done. It doesn't matter if there are 50 different to-do list apps on iPhone, because Android or BlackBerry just need a couple of good ones to make consumers happy.

January 18 2010 at 5:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MIchael

I could have typed this with my voice had I been using my Blackberry using Vlingo. Yup. Can iphone do that at all??? LoL I just love making silly comments like that. don't start an arguement from this.

January 16 2010 at 6:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
PabloZ

For the most part, these are service, not Apps. Facebook, Evernote, Shazam, Yelp, etc are popular services that people want to access via their phones. The apps listed as popular are primarily the blessed/official apps that access the specific service. Outside of service specific apps, the survey results are all over the place (and where's the Games category?)

As such, the survey primarily indicates that for web-service access, people tend to use the official app (the issues around Twitter apps kind of confirm this--no official Twitter app, thus greater variety of Twitter apps in use).

January 15 2010 at 1:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

Who uses Bump?

January 14 2010 at 9:46 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Schroef

"and for consumers: next time you choose a smartphone, the apps probably won't matter as much as the hardware features."

That's the stupidest thing I read here this year. The thing that makes the iPhone what it is are the apps. Not the hardware. There are phones with way better hardware out there. They just suck because of the software.

January 14 2010 at 8:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TIm

Absolutly right .. all the "important" apps will spread over all plattforms unless there is a specific economical interest hindering it (like Google bringing the cool gagdets to Android first of course).
Facebook, Twitter and company are everywhere and if THAT game is not available a similar one will be .. it may even have a fart app .. who knows.

Looking over to that Android marketplace more and more .. well my contract isn't up for renewal before another year .. so I guess til then Android should have developed far enough.

T.

January 14 2010 at 3:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bill g

It's not fair that Apple's #1 free app is not available for the blackberry or Android. Seriously how unfair! Everyone needs the importance of how fast you can unroll a roll of virtual toilet paper! Good job, Apple. You have 100,000 apps and %1 of them are actually useful. Where's SMS Backup Apple? hmmm?

January 14 2010 at 2:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jérôme Commaret

Why don't they do web apps (you an launch it with safari or whatever) It seems pretty stupid to do exactlly the opposite to thé desktop computer...
If gmail was a software on your desktop you would'nt probally install it, it's a software on your browser so you don't care...
I think future of computing is web and not thé opposite (install on a client computer) but Nice analysis ;) (sorry for m'y english, i'm french)

January 14 2010 at 2:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jérôme Commaret's comment
TIm

You cannot really compare web apps with native apps runnings on a system. I may work great for Emails or other text based stuff .. if it gets more graphical web apps suffer. First you have to transfer all the content through a possibly very thin mobile connection and then you lack the computing power to do 3D graphics for example because you always have to drag that browser sandbox environment overhead with you.

T.

January 14 2010 at 3:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ovenmitt

One exception is the 600+ "fart" apps available in Apple's app store.

January 14 2010 at 1:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Ovenmitt's comment
Tucker

Oh, there are plenty of fart apps for all platforms... that may, in fact, be one of the MOST universal app concepts.

January 14 2010 at 10:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TheCastro

Why is this news? I've read this "same" article on TUAW several times. Everyone already knows we use the same apps. I bet if they looked past the obvious Twitter, facebook, or aim type apps they'd find differences between blackberry and iPhone/nexusone/droid phones. You'd see a lot
more games or "fun" apps there I'm guessing.

January 14 2010 at 12:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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