Here are some interesting and quite surprising statistics for the US Census Browser HTML/PhoneGap showcase application that I released in December, which I wanted to share. The app is a browser for US Census data, full detail available here: http://www.tricedesigns.com/2010-census/. The Census Browser application was intended as a showcase app for enterprise-class data visualization in HTML-based applications, and all source code is freely available to the public.
What is really surprising is the “health” of my app within the given ecosystems. I offered the app as a free download in each market. The app is focused on Census data, so there is obviously not a ton of consumer demand, however the data is still interesting to play around with. I would not expect the same results for all types of apps in all markets.
Here are a few observations from the data:
- Barnes & Noble Nook downloads far exceeded all other markets combined (69% of all downloads)
- BlackBerry Playbook downloads were in 3rd, just behind iOS (BB is 11% of all downloads)
- Android traffic was minimal (2% of all downloads)
The general public perception/assumption that I encounter is that the iOS market is strongest, followed by Android, and that BB is dead. These numbers show a conflicting reality. Barnes & Noble was the strongest, with iOS in second place, and BlackBerry just behind iOS.
Here is the full data for downloads in December:
| Market | Release Date | # Downloads | Link | Notes |
| iOS | 12/4/11 | 1151 | link | (iPad only) |
| Android (Google) | 12/6/11 | 58 | link | (large-xlarge screens only) |
| Android (Amazon) | 12/6/11 | 63 | link | (includes Kindle Fire) |
| BlackBerry | 12/14/11 | 752 | link | (PlayBook only) |
| Barnes & Noble | 12/20/11 | 4508 | link | (Nook) |
Other Observations
Here are a few other observations from analyzing the download statistics for the various app markets…
Lots of people got Nook devices for Christmas this year:
BlackBerry Playbook downloads spiked from the BerryReview.com app review:
iOS traffic peaked just after the inital release with an increase after the winter holidays, but has been more-or-less consistent with no “spike”:
Amazon Market only had 8 downloads on Christmas day – this is likely the result of the fact that the Kindle Fire is branded as a consumer media device, not an analytics/computing device:
Know what else is interesting? The charting/analytics for Amazon, Google, and Nook markets are all built with Adobe Flash, with both Amazon and Nook built using Adobe Flex.