On Average People Have 41 Apps Installed On Their Phone

Sites include Android.com , Apple.com . Published on May 30th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The mobile apps industry is worth over $500 million a year and employs thousands of people—many in the US alone. It comes as no surprise then that these applications are in high demand.

Nielsen is reporting a 32% increase in the number of apps owned by mobile phone owners and estimates the average number of installed apps to be around 41. A big chunk of the apps marketplace is of course dominated by Apple, who in a very real sense is the pioneer of the apps marketplace.

Apple is followed closely by Google’s Android which now has well over 500,000 apps in its marketplace.  Nielsen did point out though that increased concern (70% among US apps users) has led to a flat growth in the engagement with these apps. The average time spent using apps is now 39%–only a 2% growth on the 37% mark recorded in 2011.

But it’s not just privacy that is fueling stagnation in engagement; users are also now finding that the marketplace is cluttered with apps that all do the same thing. Add to that the amalgamation of functions into fewer and fewer apps and developers are finding their apps being shut out in the cold.

The one good news I suppose is that developers have yet to tap markets external to the US to their full potential. Many developers can scale their development by making apps available in different languages and varied functionality. This will no doubt give the industry a few more years yet in terms of relevance.

What do you think, are there too many apps on Apple and Android? Let us know using the comments below.