As a service whose sole purpose is to track the applications that people actually use on their systems, it should be no surprise that Wakoopa has a lot of interesting usage data. On a day to day level, Wakoopa’s data is good, but it’s the aggregate data over long periods of time that can be really meaningful to show how we are using our computers. Today, Wakoopa has released the first such aggregate data with its inaugural State of the Apps report.
The report shows the quarterly data for desktop software, games and web apps. The data comes from the over 75,000 Wakoopa users that have installed the desktop tracking software to enable the company to see actual usage. These users have logged over 525 million hours of app usage, across over 200,000 apps.
The team behind Wakoopa, a social network that tracks and shares information about the desktop applications used by its members, noticed that Firefox and Safari were consistently ranked as the network’s top two applications by usage. So they took this as a cue to start measuring web apps in addition to desktop apps, since their data confirm (at least among the developer types drawn to its service) what we already know anecdotally: that web apps are slowly replacing desktop apps.
Wakoopa, the application monitoring service that we’ve described as a Last.fm for desktop apps, has raised $1 million in a funding round led by Big Bang Ventures and HENQ Invest.
Wakoopa monitors the amount of time each application is open on a user’s desktop (or iPhone), and uses the aggregated data to create a social network. The site also serves as an application database that can be used to look up general information or reviews.
Wakoopa launched in May 2007 and has grown to 30,000 users that that have generated 250 million hours of software usage data. The site has compiled the data to create Alexa-like graphs, though most of the data is highly biased towards the tech-savvy.
RescueTime is a similar offering in this space, but it is geared more towards improving productivity than discovering new useful applications. You can see a recent analysis we did on their data here.
We first wrote about Wakoopa when they launched in April. It’s a downloadable program for application addicts that tracks the software or games you use. We called it a Last.fm for applications, alluding to the program’s tracking and recommendation system similar to audio scrobbling.
While there are obvious privacy concerns (addressed here), over 17,000 people have signed up for the service (no word on downloads). The site draws half a million people each month to profiles for over 70,000 applications they track on Mac, PC and even the iPhone. To date, they’ve tracked about 110 million hours of software usage. Firefox is the top ranked app, with over half a million hours of use.
All this usage has generated some pretty interesting data that Wakoopa is now exposing through new Alexa-like graphs. Although Wakoopa will be officially launching the graphing feature tomorrow, TechCrunch readers can get access now by just adding “?techcrunch=true” to any URL(example). Like Alexa, the graphs show the relative rank and reach (% usage) of an application amongst their sample population. By first quarter next year, they’ll allow comparisons of up to 5 applications and embedding.
Granted, the sample population is pretty geeky. The current data reveals some kind of alternate universe where Firefox’s superior browser has finally usurped Explorer’s majority market share (see below). Yet even though it may be biased, the data gives a previously unseen look at highly valuable information about how we use our computers. For instance, Wakoopa has found Tuesday is the day users play games the least. They also found women spend twice as much time in Photoshop than men.
The team’s moving from Amsterdam to the valley next year, and I look forward to seeing what else they have planned for the product.
Last.fm does for music what Dutch startup Wakoopa wants to do for your desktop applications. Like Last.fm, Wakoopa uses a downloaded tracker, except it follows how often you use applications instead of listen to music. Similarly, Wakoopa has also built a Rails-powered social website around the data, letting users share their preferences with friends, write reviews of their favorite application, and download new ones. Wakoopa is backed by a fund of the three biggest media companies in the Netherlands (Ilse, IDG, Telegraaf) and launches May 2nd.
Wakoopa’s tracker logs what applications you use and for how long, updating your personal profile every 15 minutes. On the website, the aggregate data lists the most recently used applications and most used applications of all time. Each application has a profile that lists the people and groups who use it, reviews, and tags. For free applications, it also includes a download link for various versions, potentially creating a more social SourceForge. For the private beta, Firefox is the top used application, used by 23 people logging over 117 hours. MSN messenger is an odd second place, logging a total of 14 hours.
Since raving about desktop applications doesn’t have the same mass market appeal of music, I can’t see it breaking out of the developer community unless the tracker is bundled with some really attractive freebies.
