Report: iOS app users are often richer than Android users

Apple iPhone users have a median income of $85,000, or 40 percent higher than those with Android devices, according to ComScore. The firm's most recent Mobile Insight report also suggests iOS users are more active on their devices--at nine hours more a month than Android users. The report is based on data collected across comScore's network.

  • Apps drive the vast majority of media consumption activity on mobile devices, accounting for approximately 7 out of every 8 minutes. 
  • More than one-third of all U.S. smartphone owners download at least one app per month. The average smartphone user within this segment downloads three apps per month, meaning that the average among the entire smartphone population comes out to slightly more than one. 
  • The top 7 percent of smartphone owners account for nearly half of all download activity in a given month.
  • More than half (57 percent) of smartphone users accessed apps every single day of
    the month, while 26 percent of tablet users did so. 
  • A full 79 percent of smartphone users accessed apps at least 26 days per month, while 52 percent of tablet users did so.
  • 42 percent of all app time spent on smartphones occurs on the individual's single most used app. Nearly three out of every four minutes of app usage occurs on one of the individual's top four apps.

Comscore smartphone reserach

"Despite the fact that engagement is now higher on apps than on desktop and mobile browser, they have not attracted the advertising dollars its audience warrants," the report says. "Like any emerging advertising medium, it takes time for the ad buying and selling infrastructure to develop. The good news is that, throughout the history of media, dollars eventually follow eyeballs, which means that the future of the mobile app economy is very bright."

The demographic information about median incomes comScore provides is interesting in light of other studies which have suggested there is more revenue to be made in Apple's App Store versus Google Play. That said, the biggest takeaways for developers in this report are probably the information about app usage across the board. For example, the data reinforces more than ever that smartphones are primarily entertainment devices, with half of the total time spent on app categories such as social networking and games. The big challenge now is to reach that "most used app" status across more users, since the report makes clear that the engagement, while healthy, is highly concentrated. 

For more:
- to see the full report, click here

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