If you are correct, which I believe to be the case, then it is surprising that Apple Music is ahead of Spotify in the US. I would assume that that there is some correlation between these unique visits and paying customers - not 1-1 since both AM and Spotify offer free options. Again if true, either Apple is monetizing their app faster than Spotify or there are a lot of Spotify users paying but not using their app.
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Facebook and Google Dominate 'Top Smartphone Apps of 2016' List, While Apple Music Ranks 9th
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Remember though, you also use Apple Music when you play your mp3s. Lots of people still use the "iPod app" and don't bother to download a separate player. I'm a Spotify user, but when I play local files, I use the Apple Music app. Nearly every iPhone user uses the Apple Music app to listen to music unless they are 100% streaming on a non-Apple Music service. So it's not that surprising that Apple Music (streaming + mp3s) is so big.
I don't think monetizing has anything to do with it. 9 of the top 10 are free apps with no direct monetization. As to the Apple Music v Spotify comparison, you didn't account for one important detail: desktop. A lot of Spotify use is desktop (web app) and not smartphone, and this report is smartphone only.
Happy New Year brother.
First and foremost is Happy New Year to you, mustang! Hope you had a great Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa and you are prepared for whatever 2017 has in store for us all.
I actually did think about the desktop, but my assumption is that people will use Spotify or Apple Music on the desktop so I am not sure that it would significantly change positions, but without data, I guess it behavior could indeed be significantly different based on platform.
The reason I brought up monetización is that Spotify needs to become profitable if it is going to compete. I would like that so that Apple is always pushed to improve. And as always I hope it will improve to support us music owners better. I will say that amazon music works great on my sonos which allows me to discover new music. As a prime member it allows me to stream without having to pay any extra. Spotify requires a paid subscription to use with sonos and AM is not supported. But I can use my personal music library through sonos as it does sync with iTunes on my Mac.
There's a lot of focus on the apps used, but I find the OS breakdown more interesting... 45%/53%? How does that square with device sales? I thought Android had a pretty significant lead in unit sales even in the US? Do people just hold on to their iOS devices longer (less unit sales but similar installed base)?