Smartphone users will waste £750m this year
British smartphone owners are set to rack up a big apps bill this year.

Smartphone users in Britain will waste an estimated 747.3 million on mobile phone apps this year.
In a study of 1,476 smartphone owners, the MyVoucherCodes website found eight out of 10 users said they would be "highly unlikely" to use an application more than once.
When it came to games, 62 per cent admitted they had some left unplayed since they downloaded them.
"Mobile applications have become the mobile equivalent of impulse buys," said Mark Pearson, managing director of MyVoucherCodes.
Part of the reason for this is that apps cost a relatively small amount, with games averaging 0.81 each and apps around 1.85, Pearson claimed.
Despite this, the report showed that a thrifty nine per cent of users only go for free applications.
Gartner has predicted the apps industry will prove to be worth $6 billion (4 billion) by the end of 2010.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, said: "Games remain the number one application; and mobile shopping, social networking, utilities and productivity tools continue to grow and attract increasing amounts of money."
As for novelty programs, many of these are charged for even though they are limited to a single function.
"As cool as having an application that turns your handset into a light sabre is, think about whether you're going to be using it beyond that initial download if you're not, it's probably money that hasn't been particularly well spent," Pearson added.
-
RSAC Conference 2025: The front line of cyber innovation
ITPro Podcast Ransomware, quantum computing, and an unsurprising focus on AI were highlights of this year's event
-
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're burying our heads in the sand on AI job losses
News With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
Software engineers are in for a rough ride as AI adoption ramps up – 80% will be forced to upskill by 2027 as the profession is transformed
News The technology will create new roles throughout software engineering and operations, the firm said
-
IT spending could reach £3.5 trillion in 2017
News Enterprise software will record 7.5% growth, predicts Gartner
-
Skills gap listed as major challenge in Hadoop takeup
News Research by Gartner said only 26 per cent of respondents claim to be either deploying, piloting or experimenting with Hadoop
-
Tablet sales set for slow 2015, predicts Gartner
News Why Gartner thinks Windows Phone will grow faster than Apple’s iOS
-
iPhone 6/6 Plus fuel 26 per cent smartphone sales jump for Apple
News Samsung loses huge market share in China, while Apple’s iPhone 6 sales continue unabated
-
Gartner: Extreme transformation is on the horizon for some leaders
News PPM leaders must prepare for extreme transformation, according to the analyst firm
-
Salesforce leads growth of worldwide software market
News Gartner's study shows the worldwide software market grew by 4.8 per cent in 2013
-
iPad 2 replaced by iPad 4 as Apple's entry-level tablet
News iPad 4 becomes Apple's entry-level tablet, as it axes iPad 2 from line-up