Half of iPhone users buy at least an app a month

[cnet] Although iPhone and Android users download and spend time using about the same number of applications, iPhone users are more apt to buy one, according to a report released Thursday by AdMob.

Among mobile-device consumers surveyed by AdMob for its "January 2010 Metrics Report," 50 percent of all iPhone users and 35 percent of iPod Touch owners purchase at least one app a month. Those numbers compare with 24 percent of Palm's WebOS owners and 21 percent of Android users who buy at least one app each month. Results did not include Research In Motion's BlackBerry.

iPod Touch owners seem to be the heaviest downloaders in general, grabbing an average of 12 apps per month, versus iPhone and Android users who download 9 apps a month. WebOS users overall download only around 6 apps per month, which may be due in large part to the scarcity of available apps.

Touch owners are also the heaviest users, spending an average of 100 minutes each month using their apps, compared with WebOS users at 87 minutes, Android users at 80 minutes, and iPhone users at 79 minutes.

Apple and Android owners seem to be the happiest with their devices, as 91 percent of iPhone users and 88 percent of iPod Touch owners would recommend their devices to other people. That compares with 84 percent of Android users and 69 percent of WebOS owners who would do the same.

For its report, AdMob compared the results of the current survey with those from a survey in July. Besides noting the rise in smartphones and devices like the iPod Touch, AdMob is seeing growing popularity in mobile Internet devices (MIDs). Ad requests from MIDs hit 17 percent in January, compared with 12 percent in July. Among users surveyed, 16 percent of iPhone users said they were interested in buying an iPad, versus 11 percent of WebOS users and only 6 percent of Android owners.

AdMob serves ads to mobile phones and monitors every ad request among more than 15,000 mobile Web sites for the iPhone, Android, and WebOS smartphones. The survey results were culled from 963 consumer responses captured over a two-week period earlier in February. Results did not include Research In Motion as AdMob does not currently serve ads to BlackBerry phones.

Half of iPhone users buy at least an app a month