Shocking: The top 10 most popular apps in the United States are owned by three major companies

The latest data released by Nielsen shows that the 10 most popular apps in the US market in 2015 came from three companies: Facebook, Google and Apple. Microsoft, the software company with the highest revenue in the world, did not appear in this list. In 2015, Facebook accounted for three of the top 10 apps in terms of average monthly unique users in the US. Among them, the Facebook main app ranked first for the second consecutive year. Facebook's messaging app Messenger ranked third, up from seventh last year. Instagram ranked eighth, up one place from last year.

Google has 5 apps in the top 10, including YouTube in second place, Google Search in fourth place, Google Play in fifth place, Google Maps in sixth place, and Gmail in seventh place. Two Apple apps are in the top 10, namely Apple Music and Apple Maps.

For Microsoft, the ranking is instructive. It reflects what kind of applications users want, but Microsoft has not yet provided such products. Microsoft did not comment on the report.

Microsoft is working hard to develop mobile-friendly products, such as the free version of Office 365. Based on the Windows 10 platform, applications developed by developers for PCs can also run on mobile phones, which will help Windows phones solve the "chicken or egg" problem. Due to the small number of Windows phone users, developers are reluctant to develop applications for this platform. And due to the lack of applications, users are reluctant to buy Windows phones.

It’s not surprising that Google and Apple are on this list, as the apps on the list are mainly native apps for Android and iOS platforms. On Android phones, users can use Gmail without downloading it, and on iPhones, users can also use Apple Music directly.

However, Facebook's success is worth Microsoft's attention. Facebook does not have its own operating system, but still provides popular mobile applications. No matter what mobile phone you use, users will download applications such as Facebook and Instagram.