A poll of the top “connected” mobile apps used by UK subscribers revealed a top-10 dominated by internet and media giants, with three from Google, two from Yahoo and Sky, and single apps from Facebook and eBay. The highest ranked “independent” app is messaging product WhatsApp Messenger, which is in ninth place. According to the data, published in a report from the GSMA and comScore, in partnership with the UK mobile operators, 40 percent of the 21.8 million UK mobile internet users (8.75 million) accessed a connected app during April 2011, with Google Maps the most popular, with 6.4 million unique users.

The study found that 65 percent of connected apps were running on iOS devices, with Google’s Android coming in second place with 31 percent. Symbian OS ranked third, with one percent. The GSMA noted that not all BlackBerry traffic can be reported, due to the “nature of the connection mechanism the devices use.”

The application ranking is available as part of the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics product portfolio, launched in February last year, which includes monthly reports on mobile internet behaviour and analysis of access methods.