• BenEvans.com, Tuesday, August 2, 2011 10:13 AM

Surprisingly, only about 50% to 60% of Apple's famously forward-thinking mobile users have downloaded a Facebook app, according data compiled by analyst Benedict Evans. Facebook shows pages for every app authorized to connect to its system, along with their active users. "So, you can see how many people are using each Facebook app on each mobile platform," according to Evans.

In total, Apple has sold around 190 million iPhones and iPod Touches (of which not all are still active) and has 85 million Facebook app users, which, by Evans' calculations, equals a 50% to 60% penetration. Android, on the other hand, is roughly on par with iOS with 76 million Facebook installs, "despite having a smaller figure of 120-130m units in the market."

According to Evans, "A third of these are using the custom clients pre-installed by [original equipment manufacturers] - clearly that's a good deal for Facebook." Meanwhile, Evans notes the "interesting complication" is that there are many independent apps, especially on the iPad -- "where there is no official one yet" -- and on Android, where the OEMs make their own. "And there may be overlap with people using both the OEM app and the official app."

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