Microsoft Teams Dethrones Slack, Becomes Most Downloaded Business Chat App in 2019

Microsoft has been on a mission to own business chat, but Skype for Business was a flop. Meanwhile Slack managed to take over offices and teams all over the world.

And then Microsoft started pushing Teams — Here's how all three performed in the U.S. App Store this year:

Although just by a little, Microsoft Teams has clearly taken the lead as we head into 2020 in the US. Microsoft is already ingrained in so many organizations, so this is no surprise.

Looking at yearly totals doesn't give Microsoft enough credit however. Here's how downloads look in 2019 in the U.S. App Store.

Note: The chart is showing daily downloads, which is why there are so many peaks (week days) and dips (weekends).

Microsoft worked hard to take over and it didn't happen over night. Interesting to note is that the growth didn't come at the expense of Skype for Business, which maintained its stead downloads rate.

We've focused on the U.S. because it's the biggest market for both Microsoft Teams and Slack, but the rest of the world followed the same trend as the US, awarding Microsoft Teams with more downloads (except for Japan).

Here are the top 10 countries where Microsoft Teams was downloaded most in 2019:

Will this trend continue into 2020? absolutely, as long as Microsoft continues to push Teams to its existing user-base. As heavy Slack users here at Appfigures (especially me!) we'll be keeping an eye on business chat apps.