Nielsen has published statistics for the top Android and Apple apps of 2012.

According to Nielsen smartphone owners became the majority of mobile phone users for the first time in 2012, growing from 49 percent of mobile subscribers in Q1 2012, to 56 percent by Q3 2012.

In the US Android had a 52% share of the smartphone market while Apple had 35%. Blackberry had the next largest share, 7% while Windows Phone only had 2%.

Mobile app usage continued to grow during the year. Twitter was the fastest growing Android app, experiencing a 122% increase in unique users between January and October 2012.
Facebook Messenger was the  was the Apple app, with the greatest growth, expanding its user base by 544% between January and October 2012.

(Click in chart to enlarge)

Overall Google Search was the most popular Android App with over 46 million unique users on average per month. Gmail with 44.5 million users was ranked second and Facebook was third with over 42 million users.

(Click in chart to enlarge)

On Apple Maps was the most popular app with over 32 million unique users on average per month. Facebook with 28.5 million users was ranked second and YouTube was third with over 23 million users.

There was a great deal of similarity in app popularity between Android and Apple. Despite the fiasco of its results, Maps was the top app on Apple and Google Maps had a strong showing on Android. Facebook and You Tube did well on both platforms with Pandora Radio and the Weather Channel also showing up on both - surpassed on Apple by its native weather app.