Facebook Mobile App Beats Google For Most Popular App Thanks In Part To Apple

By the end of 2012, Facebook's Mobile App had become more popular than Google Maps, one of the most ubiquitous mobile apps in the world.

According to comScore's Mobile Metrix, which tracks unique visitors to mobile apps on both iOS and Android platforms, Facebook finished the year with about 20,000,000 more unique visitors in December than Google Maps.

Mark Zuckerberg's mobile app started the year with a deficit in popularity compared to the Google behemoth, but that changed in September of last year. While Google Maps took a conspicuous hit, Facebook kept on climbing, overtaking Google Maps by October and continuing on to widen the margin for the most popular app category.

The reversal of Google Maps' popularity was probably caused by Apple removing Google Maps from their new iOS 6 operating system in an attempt by Apple to boost their own map app. Andrew Lipsman of comScore told Cnet that Apple's war with Google Maps was "largely responsible for the position swap," but that Google Maps "has been clawing its way back the past few months after getting reinstated on iOS6."

Facebook also ranked number one in terms of mobile app engagement, meaning the amount of time someone spends interacting with the app on his or her phone. With a whopping 23 percent share of all time spent on any app in December 2012, Facebook beat out the next best competitors for smartphone users' attentions, Instagram, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Maps, by 20 percent.

While losing out to Facebook is a hit, Google-brand apps did not do badly in 2012 overall. In the roundup of the top 10 apps of 2012, Google apps made spots 2 through 6, with Maps, Play, Search, Gmail, and YouTube.