Smartphone users losing interest in apps: Deloitte

Smartphone apps are finding less takers in the UK, with the average number of apps downloaded per user per month recording substantial decline over the past year.

According to a report by Deloitte, almost one in three (31 per cent) of smartphone users in the UK did not download any apps on their device in a typical month, which comes as a steep increase from less than one in five in 2013.

Of those that did, the average number of apps downloaded had fallen from 2.32 to 1.82.

The report pointed out that around nine in 10 people never spent money on apps or other smartphone content, suggesting that demand for paid apps was even lower.

However, this did not mean the size of the app market itself was shrinking.

According to Deloitte, the decline in the rate of downloads per user was due to an increase in the number of smartphone owners over 50, who had less interest in using their phone as a data device.

The Telegraph newspaper quoted Paul Lee, head of research for media and telecommunications at Deloitte, as saying, the new adopters of smartphones used them mostly for text messaging.

Lee added when one looked at users of IM (instant messaging) services like WhatsApp and WeChat, it tended to be younger age groups and usage declined steeply among older users.

Lee told the Financial Times that a limit was being reached in the UK in the volume of app store downloads.

He added being an early developer of smartphones and the base for many of the leading app developers, the country had become a bellwether for the rest of the mobile industry.

Lee said people were turning away from apps either out of apathy or affordability.