NEWS22 February 2017
US – A new report from Gartner predicts that messaging apps will become more popular than social media apps within the next two years.
The report, based on a survey of over 3,000 mobile users in the US, China and the UK, also claims that the world may have passed ‘peak app', as consumers grow tired of the sheer number of apps available, preferring fewer apps and relying more on voice-activated digital assistants.
According to Gartner, use of dedicated video apps declined by four percentage points between 2015 and 2016, use of standalone map apps fell by three percentage points and social media apps fell by two percentage points.
Meanwhile, the use of messaging apps rose by three percentage points and shopping and personal assistant apps both rose by four percentage points.
“It’s a move away from using native applications to something else,” Gartner research director Jessica Ekholm was quoted as saying.
“Consumers are getting less interested in using applications; there are far too many applications. Some of the surveys that we’re doing we see that there’s a stablisation in terms of app usage. How many apps they’re downloading, how much time they’re spending finding new applications — it’s just that people are getting a little bit disinterested in that."