Facebook Replaces Google Maps as Top U.S. Mobile App

News
By published

Google claims five of the top six U.S. mobile apps at the end of 2012.

Social network leader Facebook has overtaken Google Maps as the top mobile application in the United States.

According to figures released by ComScore, the social network's app boasted 85,574 unique visitors in December and overtook the Google Maps app after September, which coincides with Apple removing the latter from iOS 6 in favor of its own mapping software, a move that ultimately backfired.

That said, Google re-released its Maps app, which was downloaded more than 10 million times in two days. ComScore VP of Industry Analysis Andrew Lipsman said Apple's removal of Google Maps was "largely responsible for the position swap," with mapping app "clawing its way back the past few months after getting reinstated on iOS 6."

Google still managed to account for five of the top six U.S. mobile apps at the end of 2012. Google Maps settled for second with 74,631 users, followed by Google Play, Google search, Gmail and YouTube.

ComScore said that Facebook's mobile app, which is used on 86 percent of all iOS devices, accounts for 23 percent of time spent on apps. All of Google's apps combined account for 10 percent of time spent on apps. Consequently, more than 1 out of every 3 minutes spent on mobile apps is spent on Facebook's mobile program or on a Google app.

 

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

Zak Islam
Zak Islam
Contributing writer

Zak was a contributing writer at Tom's Guide with a focus on security, networking and general computing. As a fan of any and all news relating to hardware, graphics chips or CPUs, Zak has also written for other tech sites such as Tom's Hardware and Digital Trends.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • virtualban
    "They trust me — dumb fucks,"
    http://gawker.com/5636765/facebook-ceo-admits-to-calling-users-dumb-fucks
    Reply
  • "85,574 unique visitors" I think that's supposed to be in millions, like 85,574,000 unique visitors
    Reply
  • alidan
    ankit0x1but still fb app sucks....web version is better
    great... so not only are people morons... they cant even be smart morons...
    Reply
  • kinggremlin
    Ventis"85,574 unique visitors" I think that's supposed to be in millions, like 85,574,000 unique visitors
    The lack of an editor/proofreader for news stories here is truly astonishing. If facebook actually had only 85k unique visitors last month, I think that would be a much MUCH bigger story than the fact it was the #1 app. 74k users for Google Maps last month? I think that's the actual number that used Apple's mapping service.
    Reply
  • jn77
    This does not make sense..... Google Maps is pre installed on every android device made. which means 100% of users have it installed whether they use it or not. I am pretty sure faceplam does not have a 100% install rate.
    Reply
  • Northwestern
    I just uninstalled Facebook from my Blackberry because I never give enough damns to use it.
    Reply
  • uhh3000
    I got rid of that app yesterday. It's painfully slow, even when I have full bars and 4g service
    Reply
  • redgarl
    Facebook is an app? Correction, Facebook is a waste of time, not an app.

    Just think about it...
    Where would be the world without google maps?
    Where would be the world without Facebook?

    Reply
  • WithoutWeakness
    jn77This does not make sense..... Google Maps is pre installed on every android device made. which means 100% of users have it installed whether they use it or not. I am pretty sure faceplam does not have a 100% install rate.This isn't just Android phones. This is all smartphones. Since Apple removed Google Maps from iOS6 and replaced it with their crApple Maps you no longer have Google Maps on all iPhones.

    Also, do keep in mind that this survey thing only counts the number of people who used the app in the month of December, 2012, not the number of people who have it installed. So even if every phone on the planet had Google Maps on it, if they never launched the app in December of 2012 they would not be counted in this survey.
    Reply