Usage Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

App usage doesn't drop during Super Bowl -- except during halftime

by Mike Schramm (Feb 8th, 2012)

Mobile advertiser Flurry's latest report, on app usage during the Super Bowl, is fascinating for those of us who have been following the "second screen" phenomenon: The tendency of mobile device users to use their devices while also watching television or other media. Flurry notes that during last ...

Talking Points Memo sees Windows visitors decline, Mac and iOS users soar

by Michael Grothaus (Nov 27th, 2011)

The progressive left-leaning political news site Talking Points Memo issued an interesting set of (non-partisan) statistics that shows just how much the share of total devices running Microsoft Windows has declined in the last five years. As you can see from the chart above, in 2006 78% of ...

Study: 2/3 of tablet users play games on the device

by Mike Schramm (Oct 14th, 2011)

ComScore has released a new study of the habits of tablet users, and it's interesting to note that like smartphones, tablet devices are more often running games than not. 67% of tablet users report that they're playing games on the devices at least once in the last month, and almost a quarter ...

Finch usage tracker for OS X disappoints

by Erica Sadun (Aug 26th, 2011)

For $8.99, Touch Studio's Finch app for OS X promises to to quietly track your computer usage as you work. With it, you should be able to monitor which apps and sites you spend the most time in, and adjust your workday accordingly. Finch runs in your menu bar, keeping track of your usage by ...

Verizon unlimited data to end in July

by Mike Schramm (Jun 21st, 2011)

Bad news, Verizon users. The rumors were true, and Verizon will be ending its unlimited data plan this July. According to AllThingsD, Verizon confirms it's moving "to a more usage based model in July," with exact details to come later on. Unfortunately, it's unclear what Verizon still plans ...

15% of mobile apps launched while offline

by Michael Grothaus (May 10th, 2011)

Real-time analytics firm Localytics has issued a report that says 15 percent of all mobile apps are launched while the device they are running on is offline. That's a clear sign that developers would be serving their users better if they built "offline" modes into more apps, according to Ryan ...

Nielsen: iPad maintains 82% of tablet market

by Mike Schramm (May 5th, 2011)

No surprises here: the iPad is dominating the tablet market in the US right now, with over 80 percent of users owning a version of Apple's tablet. The latest survey by Nielsen gives that figure, and says that 3G and Wi-Fi versions are almost equally split among owners, with 39% sticking with ...

Survey: Games top usage on tablets, too

by Mike Schramm (Apr 8th, 2011)

According to a survey done by Google's AdMob, games are the number one use of most tablet computers out there, including Apple's own iPad and iPad 2. As you can see from the chart above, 84% of tablet owners play games on their devices, a use that's apparently ahead of even email checking, ...

Mobile share reports put Android in first for ads, RIM with most subscribers

by Mike Schramm (Dec 6th, 2010)

Two big mobile market share reports have just released, both of them offering up some interesting news for Apple in the world of mobile phone OS users. First up, IDC's report sends Google's Android OS to a whopping 59 percent share, up from 48.6 percent last year. Apple, IDC says, will likely ...

iPad owners' usage increasing over time

by Dave Caolo (Nov 15th, 2010)

Business Insider recently surveyed 500 iPad users about their habits with some interesting results. Among the most interesting is that nearly 80 percent of respondents (77.6) said they use their iPads more often now than they did when they first got them, suggesting that, after the novelty had worn ...

iPad ads more lucrative than iPhone spots

by Mike Schramm (Aug 3rd, 2010)

Here's an interesting little finding regarding Apple's iOS devices -- Mobclix claims that for the month of July 2010, ads on the iPad were actually more lucrative than ads running on iPhone apps. The effective cost per thousand impressions is actually five times higher on the iPad than on the ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Which 3G plan should I opt for?

by Erica Sadun (May 2nd, 2010)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I'm getting a new iPad 3G. I understand the bit about no contract and $15 a month for 250mb but wonder about how does 250mb relate to web usage. I have heard some say the web surfing can consume a lot of "bandwidth" but have no idea what that means relative to 250mb of data plan ...

iPad claiming .03% of all 'net traffic already

by Mel Martin (Apr 16th, 2010)

I must say, my iPad has become my primary way to access the Web when I'm at home, and it looks like Apple's latest device is getting a lot of exercise from other iPad users too. In a report from NetApplications, the iPad averaged 0.03 percent, per day, of all Web traffic for the ten days after ...

Millions of app store downloads everywhere

by Mike Schramm (Jan 7th, 2010)

Last year was a big one for mobile downloads, according to a number of sources. A Quantcast mobile trends report says that mobile web activity grew 110% in the US throughout 2009, and of course Apple was responsible for most of that, with a 65 from the iPhone and the rest from the iPod touch. ...

Study: Android and iPhone users show same usage trends, heavy app usage

by Mike Schramm (Dec 28th, 2009)

A study put together by analytics firms comScore and Compete says that while Android and iPhone users probably aren't the same people, they certainly act like it. Usage patterns line up almost exactly across the board, differing by only a few percentage points in categories from social networking ...