comScore: Two-thirds of US mobile users don't download apps in a month

The latest data released by market research firm comScore on August 25, 2014 showed that mobile applications currently account for 52% of Americans' digital media consumption time, up from 40% in early 2013.

Since Apple launched the iPhone App Store in 2008, mobile applications have become popular rapidly. At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, Apple announced that the total number of app downloads from the App Store has reached 75 billion times. In July this year, Apple announced that the App Store revenue hit an all-time record, and the number of users downloading apps also hit a new high.

However, according to comScore, in a given month, most US users do not download apps. Only one-third of users download apps, and most of these users download 1 to 3 apps. In addition, 7% of users download nearly half of the apps.

Why is this happening? It’s not because apps have no use, as more than half of all US smartphone users use apps every day. It’s also not because apps are expensive, as most are free, and prices have been dropping since the App Store launched. So what’s the real reason?

One explanation is that most users don't need many apps, and the apps they already have installed do most of the work. Almost all smartphone users use apps, but the most frequently used apps account for 42% of the total time spent in apps. Users install new apps and then delete them, which is especially common in gaming apps. At the same time, breakthrough apps are becoming fewer and fewer. The top 25 most popular apps in the United States are mainly from large companies, including Facebook , Google , Pandora and Yahoo .

Another explanation is that it's not easy to find and download new apps. The App Store's app discovery feature has been criticized. Users often find apps through the top 25 charts, search engines, and some editorial choices. This makes it more difficult for large app developers to get noticed while making it more difficult for new apps to get noticed.

There is no doubt that Apple's app ecosystem is excellent, which may be one of the most important inventions in the history of software development, and Google has also copied Apple's model. However, this app ecosystem still has a lot of room for improvement.