The Developers Alliance finds some interesting facts about Android users

The Developers Alliance has asked 3,000 Android users how they interact with their apps, and not surprisingly, customization plays a key role in their behavior.

Android, ever since its birth, has been about customization. That’s why each Android manufacturer’s skin is unique and that’s why each Android user has the ability to change not only their wallpaper but also the device’s default launcher and icons. With that in mind, the Developers Alliance sought to determine just how Android users customize their phones, and the results are quite interesting.

Perhaps it’s expected that for a majority of Android users, customization is indispensable. And the report shows exactly that. According to the findings, nearly 90 percent of the surveyed Android users have made changes to the apps on their home screen either by removing or adding them or by creating folders. And 66 percent of the respondents have indicated that their home screens are populated with more apps that they have downloaded than the ones that come preinstalled. What’s more interesting is that there are 2,000 unique apps downloaded by these 3,000 Android users, a testament to the diversity in app consumption amongst Android users.

However, as the Developers Alliance points out, the fact that most users have more downloaded apps on their home screens than preinstalled apps does not necessarily mean that they do not want preinstalled apps. According to the survey, a whopping 76 percent of consumers prefer an Android device with basic apps preloaded. Of course, when it comes to bloatware (I’m looking at you, US carriers), it’s a whole another story.

According to the report, Android users have multiple apps that they use for one given task. For instance, 75 percent of respondents use the Amazon app for shopping, but of that group, 88 percent use at least one other app for shopping. Same thing with cloud storage: almost half reported that they use Google Drive, but 70 percent of them use other apps like DropBox or OneDrive on top of Google’s offering.

As President of the Developers Alliance Jake Ward points out, “the Android marketplace is a growing, dynamic and competitive ecosystem that provides consumers more choices and variety than ever before. There are numerous apps to choose from in almost every app category and an app for almost every need consumers may have, and if there are any unmet needs, developers are at the ready to create new innovative products to meet those needs.” And it seems like users are taking full advantage of this.