AdMob released its Mobile Metrics Report for July, focusing on application purchasing patterns for Android and Apple iPhone users.
The latest report combines AdMob network data with survey results from more than 1,000 users of iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices.
The report found that the majority of application discovery takes place through browsing and searching directly on the mobile device, rather than from the user’s computer. Developers have long struggled with getting their applications seen in the massive app store catalogs.
AdMob’s report also compares purchasing patterns of paid applications in the Apple App Store and Android Market. According to the report, 19 percent of Android users regularly download one or more paid apps a month, compared to 50 percent of iPhone users and 40 percent of iPod touch users. However, users who do purchase paid apps on either platform exhibit similar downloading and spending habits.
Additionally, Android and iPhone users download about 10 new apps per month, while iPod touch owners download an average of 18 per month, and users who regularly download paid apps spend about $9 on an average of five paid downloads per month.
AdMob has spent the past three months focusing on application usage patterns. In June, the firm reported that there are over 65,000 applications available at Apple’s App Store, and it’s possible that only a small percentage of those are actually being downloaded. According to AdMob’s Mobile Metrics for June, only five percent of the 2,603 applications in AdMob’s iPhone network had more than 100,000 active users in May.
Android has the second largest app catalog among the major smartphone brands with devoted app stores. BlackBerry and Palm both have app stores as well. Recent estimates put the Android catalog between 7,000 and 8,000 available applications.
