‘Pokémon GO’ To Become The Most Used App On Smartphones? Game Blazes Past Tinder And Catching Up To Twitter
Within a few short days, Pokémon GO has surpassed thousands of apps in usage on smartphones, and if the trend continues, it will soon become the most used app.
From personal injuries to robberies to stumbling across dead bodies, people have clearly become obsessed with Pokémon GO. Nintendo launched Pokémon GO last week. The game essentially allows players to capture imaginary creatures, or Pokémon, superimposed into the real world through the use of the phone’s camera and GPS.
Caught Pikachu! #PokemonGo pic.twitter.com/1qpO5XJarA
— Victor Ulloa (@ulloa_victor) July 10, 2016
The augmented reality driven game has players getting off their couches and chairs, and they are stepping out of their houses and offices into the real world searching for hidden items and battling other players. These people peering into their phones while hunting for the elusive creatures have gotten themselves into all sorts of situations that have resulted in improved health and painful stumbles.
https://twitter.com/PokemonGoMemes/status/752226098268610560
According to SimilarWeb, Pokémon GO has become wildly more popular than the majority of the apps out there. In fact, in the few short days after its release, the game has already surpassed Tinder, a highly popular and regularly used dating app. Pokemon GO is now on more Android smartphones than Tinder.
Statistically speaking, within just two days of its release, the game is now installed on 5.16 percent of all Android devices in the U.S. In comparison, Tinder is on just about three percent of smartphones running on Android in the country.
Pokémon Go Fans Share Experiences of the App Improving Their Mental Health https://t.co/QntMUIT1DH #Mobile pic.twitter.com/y56tETyqVu
— Nintendo Life (@nintendolife) July 11, 2016
By combining the real world with augmented reality, Nintendo, in association with Niantic, has players exploring the real world to collect Pokémon, recover items, and to battle other players, reported Business Insider. The game makes people explore the real world to capture the creatures which are spread around the vicinity of the player by the game’s artificial intelligence that relies on the visual imagery captured by the smartphone’s camera, as well as the current position of the player using the built-in GPS.
Getting hurt, mugged and even finding a dead body with Pokemon Go https://t.co/b8szudJr13 pic.twitter.com/O3uBCUbSh4
— CBC News (@CBCNews) July 10, 2016
Needless to add, the game’s popularity has soared through the roof. Millions of players have been participating in thousands of meetings in parks and other open spaces. Avid gamers train and battle the virtual creatures, reported ABC News.
Hey #PokemonGo trainers… You have to be at level 5 to battle at the FPD gym – no need to enter the lobby #goodluck pic.twitter.com/deoIaUGqcn
— Fremont Police Department (@FremontPD) July 11, 2016
The app is only (officially) available in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, but in those countries, its adoption is more than Tinder on its best day. Moreover, the app is rapidly approaching and expected to soon surpass Twitter. This phenomenal rise has taken place in less than a week. Pokémon GO was launched on 6th July.
https://twitter.com/GavMemes/status/752579179082907648
Apart from the downloads, the app is steadily gaining in user engagement and Daily Active Users (DAU). Almost two-thirds of the people, who have downloaded Pokémon GO, have been using it with high regularity. In other words, it is quite likely that any given time, about three percent of the American population using Android smartphones, is using the app. Twitter has a DAU base of 3.5 percent. At the rate of adoption Pokémon GO has set, it will soon surpass Twitter, possibly within the next few days.
https://twitter.com/Dory/status/752574503721508864
Beside user base, the user engagement that Pokémon GO is clocking is simply unheard of. On average, each user spends almost three-quarters of an hour, 43 minutes, 23 seconds to be precise, using the app. This is way higher than any of the popular apps including WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, and Messenger.
As a direct effect to the game’s popularity, Nintendo’s stock soared 23 percent in a single day of trading. Needless to say, this is the company’s best one-day jump in about 30 years. Pokémon GO has given a fresh new boost to Nintendo, but this time, the game appears to be having a positive impact on the population.
[Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty Images]
