iPhones Trump Androids for Mobile Commerce App Usage

COLUMBIA, Md., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A greater percentage of iPhone^® users (67.5 percent) use mobile apps for commerce compared to Android™ users (43.9 percent) in the Arbitron Mobile U.S. smartphone panel. iPhone users spend more time than Android users with mobile commerce apps (105.3 minutes/month vs. 87.6 minutes/month) and conduct more virtual shopping trips (35 sessions/month vs. 29.5 sessions/month.)

Mobile Commerce Apps
eBay is the mobile app used by the largest share of U.S. smartphone panelists—14.3 percent. eBay mobile cybershoppers used the app in 34.6 sessions for an average of one hour and 48 minutes in the month.

Passbook, the Apple iOS digital wallet app, was the number four mobile app, used by 8.1 percent of the Arbitron Mobile smartphone panelists. While among the top apps in terms of user penetration, Passbook, which serves as a portal to other mobile commerce apps, garnered far less average time in use and far fewer sessions than apps that include the ability to search for something to buy.  

Mobile Commerce Web Domains
Compared to mobile commerce apps, web domains are accessed, whether directly by browser or as a consequence of app usage, by a significantly larger share of U.S. smartphone panelists, but the time spent and the number of sessions each month with web domains are significantly smaller.

Amazon, the leading web domain for smartphone commerce, is accessed by 34.7 percent of U.S. smartphone panelists, compared to the Amazon Mobile app, which is used by 13 percent of the panel. The Amazon users spend far less time accessing the Amazon domain than with the Amazon app (19.8 minutes/month vs. 40.0 minutes/month for the mobile app). Amazon users also access Amazon via their smartphone browser far less often—5.7 average sessions/month vs. 10.9 average sessions for the Amazon mobile app.

Editors Note:
In this analysis of smartphone mobile commerce, the use of app stores for mobile commerce, whether platform or third party, are not included.

About Arbitron Mobile
Arbitron Mobile Oy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arbitron Inc., uses a proprietary, on-device software meter to provide marketers, the media, content providers, app developers, and wireless access suppliers with information on how mobile consumers use apps, surf the web, engage in social media, participate in e-commerce, and employ their devices to communicate.

For more information, contact: [email protected] or visit the Arbitron Mobile website.

Available insights into the behavior of smartphone users in the Arbitron Mobile panels are included in previous releases regarding social media use, mobile VoIP use, and mobile data consumption.

About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media–radio, television, cable and out-of-home; the mobile industry; as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world.

iPhone^® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Android™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.