60 % Of iPhone Owners Use Apple Maps In UK; Google Maps Usage Has Fallen To 18 %
- Staff
- November 26, 2013
60 % Of iPhone Owners Use Apple Maps In UK; Google Maps Usage Has Fallen To 18 %
New data published by the Guardian in collaboration with ComScore illustrates that Apple’s strategy move to remove Google maps as default on iOS is also a rousing success for the company in Europe.
Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that Google has lost nearly 23m mobile users in the US as a result of having their maps app replaced as the default on iOS devices.
According to the report, data supplied exclusively by ComScore. The information was collected via the GSMA Mobile Metrics measurement product, which measures the app being used if someone queries map data while not connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Hesham Al-Jehani, Europe mobile product manager for ComScore, noted: “the Google Map figures are only based on those who use the app using an operator data network, so it doesn’t include those who use it only on a Wi-Fi connection.” But he thinks the latter “is probably not that many and shouldn’t affect the trend.”
In October 2012, Google Maps usage on iPhone was 6.07m users – against 8.57m iPhone owners in the UK, which means that 70.8% of owners used the Google’s maps app at some point.
However, by September 2013, total use of Google Maps had dropped to 1.83m UK iPhone users even though the total ownership had grown to 10.35m. Apple Maps users, meanwhile, totalled 6.23m, or 60.2% of all users, the report said.
“For Apple, removing Google from the iPhone and installing its own maps system was a strategic move which it made to be able to control elements such as voice-guided satellite navigation, location-based search, advertising and shopping, and to avoid giving up user data which Google would be able to monetise – and grow stronger from,” Charles Authur reports for the Guardian.
