People spend 47% of their time on these apps.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: A new study conducted by Ericsson says that smartphone users in India are addicted to communication apps, spending at least 47% of their time messaging through apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Hike and Skype.
According to the report, the instant messaging applications remain to be the most popular among smartphone users in India. It says,” Communication continues to be the dominant activity on smartphones. Communication apps are ‘always on’ and are a key driver of mobile broadband usage.”
The report also says “As per our report, Indians spend 47% of time using communications apps such as voice, instant messaging, voice over internet protocol (example Skype), emails and social networking on smartphones.”
The report adds that these apps consume more data than any other apps installed in smartphones as they are always working as a background operation. “We found that 40-50% of data consumption for communication apps uses mobile broadband, whereas the corresponding figure for video is just 20%,” said Swetleena Swain, Senior Advisor, Ericsson ConsumerLab.
The study analysed the app usage behaviour of the users through on-device measurements across several markets, including India. The emphasis was given to understanding the way people communicate using instant messaging and social media apps.
According to the report, 7,500 Android users living in countries like India, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US were part of the study.
It also says that of smartphone users in countries such as the US, the UK and India spent more than 30% of their time in instant messaging and social networking apps.