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Survey Reveals Application Usage and Demographic Data on iPhone and iPod Touch Users

Thursday February 25, 2010 7:56 am PST by Eric Slivka
Mobile advertising firm AdMob today released its January 2010 Mobile Metrics Report, revealing some interesting data about application usage and demographics for iPhone and iPod touch users, as well as users of Android and webOS handsets.

Among the more interesting statistics collected in the opt-in survey of nearly 1,000 respondents were results showing that 50% of iPhone users download at least one paid application per month, compared to only 35% of iPod touch users. Only 20-25% of Android and webOS users similarly download at least one paid app per month. But while iPhone users are more likely iPod touch users to download paid apps, iPod touch users download more apps in total. According to the survey, iPod touch users download an average of just over 12 applications per month with 1.6 of them being paid, while iPhone users download only 8.8 applications per month with 1.8 of them being paid. iPod touch users also spend 25% more time using applications on their devices than iPhone and Android users.


In looking at demographics of users, AdMob's survey found that iPhone, iPod touch, and webOS user bases are all in the range of 54-58% male, while Android skews much more strongly to 73% male. iPod touch users are also typically much younger than the smartphone users, with 78% of iPod touch users being below the age of 25 while only 24-25% of iPhone, Android, and webOS users are similarly below age 25. The data corresponds with previous comments made by mobile analytics firm Flurry regarding Apple's positioning of the iPod touch as building a base of future iPhone customers.

AdMob's survey also asked users about their plans for purchasing Apple's iPad tablet device and found that 16% of iPhone users are planning to purchase an iPad in the next six months while only 11% of webOS and 6% of Android users are planning similar purchases. This compares with only 6% of iPhone users, 5% of Android users, and 2% of webOS users who are planning to purchase a Kindle in the same timeframe.

Finally, the survey questioned users about their willingness to recommend their devices to others, and the iPhone (91%) and iPod touch (88%) topped the list. 84% of Android users are likely to recommend their device, while webOS brought up the rear with only 69% of users willing to recommend their device and 3.4 times more likely than iPhone OS users to specifically not recommend their device.

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