Flurry: App installs surged 2.5X over Christmas 2014

Consumers appeared to have moved immediately from their Christmas stockings to their smartphones, with 2.5 times the number of app installs as compared to an average day in the first three weeks of December, according to Flurry. The company looked specifically at U.S. data for its research on app activity. 

  • Apple accounted for 51 percent of the new device activations Flurry recognized in the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (Dec. 19-25).
  • Samsung held the No. 2 position with 18 percent of new device activations, and Microsoft (Nokia) rounded out the top three with a 5.8 percent share, for mostly Lumia devices. 
  • After the top three manufacturers, the device market becomes increasingly fragmented with only Sony and LG commanding more than 1 percent share of new activations on Christmas Day.
  • In the week leading up to Christmas, 13 percent of new device activations were phablets compared to just 4 percent in 2013. In fact, the iPhone 6 Plus was one of the top 5 devices Flurry saw activated for Christmas; the iPhone 6 was No. 1.

"If Christmas is a bellwether for the year ahead, we should expect strong performance from iOS devices and a continued shift to the once-derided phablet form factor," Flurry said. "This was the year that time spent on mobile finally eclipsed TV, and the data shows that we are spending this time in more apps than ever."

Although Flurry didn't put hard numbers front and center, its report said games and messaging apps were the dominant category among the scores of apps installed over the holidays. Given the device activation stats mentioned here, though, this could be a good time for developers to look at other kinds of apps that have a strong revenue model attached. After all, iOS apps tend to monetize better than Android, and with Apple's commanding lead in terms of what consumers are unwrapping at Christmas, there's going to be a considerable hunger for interesting things to do with all those iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Pluses. 

For more:
- access the report here

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