Breaking away from some BlackBerry negativity, a recent study done by the firm Inside Facebook reveals some rather positive number for RIM. Data made public by Facebook shows it having 500 million monthly active users as of July 2010, and 250 million on mobile in late March of this year. Out of the total, 1/3 accounts for Mobile usage coming from data, sms updates and such. Measuring the Monthly Active Users and Daily Active Users (MAU/DAU), Inside Facebook was able to gather accurate numbers for Facebook’s usage within the mobile sphere. Let’s take a look at how the numbers stack up and what it means for BlackBerry.
Looking at these, you can get a more specific idea of its success.
As has been the case for years, its Facebook for iPhone app is in the lead, growing quickly and steadily to nearly 80 million MAU today. Even more striking is the fastet growing DAU count, at around 45 million. Its sticky ratio, already above 50%, is continuing to go up. When the company launches its iPad app, it could see even more users and engagement.
Android-powered devices are charging hard as well. The Facebook for Android app’s MAU is at 45 million and DAU is at 29 million, resulting in a sticky factor of above 60% (albeit falling somewhat over the months).
Blackberry, for all the company’s woes, has continued to show similar results to the other two platforms. Its Facebook for Blackberry smartphones app has more than 36 million MAU, and 24 million DAU. As with Androids, it’s very sticky at above 65%, although also seeing some declines.
Clearly, we can see BlackBerry still latching onto a high percentage of Facebook’s mobile usage, which means consumers are using BlackBerry smartphones next to those corporate devices that don’t have Facebook installed. While their stock is at an all time low and similarities of Palm keep coming up, its numbers like these that show RIM has the potential to be an outlier.