Photo credit: Getty
The iPhone has become ubiquitous in New York, but what apps are people downloading on it?
We set out to find the answer.
In iOS 7, the latest iteration of Apple's mobile operating system, users can now see what apps are most popular in their surrounding area through a built-in function in the App Store called "Popular Near Me." The feature tracks and lists what apps have the highest downloads around you, based on your GPS location.
Last week, amNewYork surveyed every neighborhood in Manhattan, heading out with our iPhones in hand to see what apps were most popular where. We measured during the workday, and walked around the neighborhoods to get a variety.
Transit apps were by far the most common -- in some parts of the city accounting for as many as eight of the top 10 most-downloaded apps -- so we've left them out of the roundups for most neighborhoods.
Beyond that, we found that the Financial District likes banking and city guide apps; Chelsea is very health-conscious with its download choices; midtown west skews heavily toward transit and train apps, likely because of Penn Station; and the Upper West Side is the only neighborhood to have a baby monitor app.
This type of geotagged information is an emerging form of data collection, and as the technology matures it could be increasingly important to businesses and marketing, said Scott Kurnit, CEO of online apps Keep and The Swizzle, and founder of About.com.
"More knowledge is always good for any business. The question is whether businesses have the ability to sift and sort it and make it actionable," Kurnit said. "The fascinating thing about big data is that it's everywhere but people are having issues of how to make sense of it."
Kurnit went on: "I think that geo-targeting could well be the next big movement in
technology because our smartphones are replacing our computers. As they do that, they get significantly more uses than they did when they sat on our desks or in briefcases."
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Financial District: Pace University, NYMCU banking, Broadway World, US Citizenship, WBLS Livestream, FXCM Trading Station, New York Guide, Sparrow, Canesport, 9/11 Guide, Bons Plans New York
Chinatown: NYU, Yelp, Chinese-language reference, Hailo, Airbnb, Citi Bike, Seamless
Lower East Side: SILive, RotoWire, Airbnb, Hailo, Tinder, Chinese-language reference, Afterlight, SoundHound, Citi Bike, UrbanDaddy
Soho: Yogaworks, Squarespace, Shiftplanning, XE Currency, Square Wallet, Organic Avenue, Citi Bike
Washington Square Park: NYU, Tapingo, CampusDish, Top Hat, NextStop, NYC Subway Kickmap Lite, Chinese-language reference
East Village: NYU Mobile, SkyMotion, TransLoc, Tapingo, Goal.com, SA Movement Salon, Us Weekly, Starbucks
West Village: 12 Steps AA Companion, Equinox, WebMD Allergy, WebMD, Manual of Acupuncture, TripAdvisor, Organic Avenue, HopStop,Upper East Side: Via Ride, New York Yoga, Remote for Roku, NextStop - NYC Subway, iTrans NYC Subway, Fishead Analytics, Seamless, Hailo, MTA Subway Time, Flashcards Deluxe
Gramercy: NYU Mobile, Baruch, Polyvore, Countdown!, NATE : Korean?, Chinese-language app, Stock Wars Virtual Investing
Chelsea: WebMD, Google Authenticator, QFolio, Livestream, Organic Avenue, iTV Shows 2, Ellucian Go, Gympact, Polarbeat, Airbnb, iTunes Movie Trailers, Starbucks, Style.com, Moves
Midtown West: Amtrak, My Train NJ, Cisco Jabber, onTime: LIRR Live, CooCoo for Transit, RideJumper – LIRR, NY Waterway, Nextstop
Midtown East: Crunch Fitness, Drybar, Todoist, Instasave, Seamless, St. Josemaria, Duo Mobile, Siddurapp, Appbox Pro, iSilo, YU mobile, Rue La La, Yahoo Fantasy Sports
Upper West Side: iBaby Monitor BM, Equinox, QuoTrek, ynet, Hay House Radi, Fandango Movies, OpenTable, CBS Sports
Spanish Harlem: Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball, ProTuber, Hulu Plus, NextStop, My Verizon Mobile, iTrans NYC Subway, SILive.com
Central Harlem: MilanNews.it, Eurosport, Airbnb, Wells Fargo Mobile, NextStop, Justin.TV, Muslim Pro, Baby Nursing/Breastfeeding, Live Cams pro
Morningside Heights: Chinese-language news app 163.com, Columbia University Map, Columbia University, Chinese-language news app, Uber, Camera+, MTA Subway Time
Washington Heights: UpToDate, Epocrates, USMLE & ABIM Qbank, Coast to Cosat AM, Micromedex Drug Information, Medscape, ResponseWare, TransLoc
Inwood: Podcasts, IMDb, Columbia Lions, NextStop, MTA Subway Time, Analytics Tiles App, Citi Mobile, Kindle