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"Some findings by the latest Nielsen monthly update of smartphone usage show what travel apps and sites for mobile devices were most popular this past June. It appears, at least in June, that apps were far more popular than mobile sites. \n\"Findings showed that U.S. Android and iOS users spent 95% of their time accessing travel information from travel apps, versus only five percent from the mobile web,\" notes the report. \nMost of that app traffic came from Google Maps \u2014 the top Travel category app and mobile website during June \u2014 which accounted for 78 percent of all mobile time spent on travel. But smartphone users who turn to mobile sites do so for specific information. Cruise line information, for instance, was exclusively accessed through the mobile web. The \"Travel Destinations/Theme Parks\" category appeared to have the most balanced usage among smartphone owners \u2014 54 percent of time spent was through an app and 46 percent via mobile web.\n\u201CThe variation in time spent across the different travel categories shows that there\u2019s significant room for app development and growth,\u201D Nichole Henderson, a senior research executive at Nielsen, said in a press release. \nThe release also showed:\n\nGoogle Maps was both the top travel app and mobile website, accounting for 78 percent of all time spent on the Travel category during June 2012.\nSmartphone owners seem to prefer apps for guidance: Seven out of the top 10 Travel apps during June 2012 featured a map/navigation function.\nTop mobile websites for Travel included airlines and travel aggregators, such as TripAdvisor and Priceline.com\n\nThe full report can be viewed here. Nielsen says the data from the release \"comes from our representative panel of 5000+ smartphone owners (Android+iPhone), who agree to share their mobile activities (on aggregate) through on-device meters that measure their usage of apps and the mobile web.\"\nWhat travel apps or mobile sites do you use? Tell us in the comments. \nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, jhorrocks"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/08/29/nielsen-top-travel-apps-mobile-sites/>