The GSMA and comScore, in partnership with the UK mobile operators, have released the first monthly data showing how UK mobile consumers engage through mobile applications.

The data from the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) Application Key Measurements report reveals that nearly 8.8m UK mobile owners used an app that connected to the internet during April 2011, with Google Maps ranking as the most accessed app, with 6.4m unique users.

The Application Key Measurements report provides a ranking of the most popular connected apps in the UK. The ranking is available as part of the GSMA MMM product portfolio, launched in February last year, which includes monthly reports on mobile internet behaviour and a detailed analysis of access methods.
In April 2011, 40 per cent of the UK’s 21.8m mobile internet users accessed a connected application. Google Maps ranked as the top mobile app with 6.4m users, reaching 73.3 per cent of all UK app users. Yahoo’s Weather app ranked second with 3.6m, followed by Facebook’s app with 3.5m unique visitors. Another two apps published by Google – Google Mobile and YouTube – rounded out the top five, highlighting Google’s strong position among UK mobile consumers.
Top 10 Apps by Unique Visitors:
1. Google Maps – 6.4m unique visitors

2. Yahoo! Weather – 3.6m
3. Facebook – 3.5m
4. Google Mobile – 2.6m
5. YouTube – 2.4m
6. eBay – 1.2m
7. Sky Sports Live Football Score Centre – 1m
8. Yahoo! Stocks – 959,000
9. WhatsApp Messenger – 799,000
10. Sky News – 732,000

An analysis of the leading operating systems among connected app users revealed that 65 per cent connected via a device running on Apple iOS. In April 2011, Google’s Android OS had the second highest share among operating systems for app usage at 31 per cent. Symbian ranked third and accounted for just 1 per cent of connected app users. Other Operating Systems accounted for 3 per cent of users.
“We are excited to release the first public census-level data from the GSMA and comScore on mobile application usage,” says Henry Stevens, media director at the GSMA. “Apps have become an important entry point for accessing content on mobile devices, and their usage will only increase with the rapid proliferation of smartphones.”
Jeremy Copp, VP Mobile for comScore Europe adds: “To help better measure publishers’ mobile assets, we offer mobile-optimised tagging to publishers free of charge. This service gives clients the ability to tag mobile-optimised websites and applications to enable accurate measurement of audiences, including unique visitor counts and engagement metrics, across a variety of devices and platforms. By tagging mobile applications, we can expand the ranking of applications currently under measurement and media owners as well as publishers can be sure that their properties are correctly represented in the metrics and audience measurement rankings.”