Gemini hitting #1 sounds impressive until you realize how app store rankings actually work. I've launched apps that went from nowhere to top 10 because someone made a viral TikTok about them. The rankings optimize for short-term download spikes, not whether people actually use the damn thing.
Google's been pushing updates recently though. The new voice mode doesn't completely suck like the old one - it actually responds in reasonable time instead of taking 10 seconds to process "what's the weather." The Google Workspace integration is neat if you live in Google's ecosystem, but it's not revolutionary. Mostly it just means I can ask Gemini to summarize my Gmail instead of scrolling through 200 unread emails like a normal person.
The real advantage for Google isn't any viral moment - it's ecosystem lock-in. If you're already using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Search (basically everyone), Gemini just plugs right in. OpenAI built a great standalone app, but standalone doesn't really win anymore. Ecosystems do.
This could be temporary buzz or the start of people actually switching from ChatGPT. The real test will be retention rates next month when whatever drove the downloads dies down. I've seen plenty of apps spike to #1 and then completely disappear within weeks.