Games most-used smartphone apps

In the last quarter of 2009 the number of smartphone users in the U.S. had reached 21% of wireless subscribers, up from 19% in the previous quarter and 14% in Q4 08.

"With smartphones expected to overtake feature phones in the U.S. by 2011, the popularity of mobile apps will only grow," according to Nielsen's blog.

But which apps are proving the most popular? According to Nielsen's poll of 4,200 mobile phone users for their "App Playbook" report, it was gaming apps that were the most-used.

Sixty-five percent of smartphone users said they had used a gaming app in the last 30 days compared with 56% who had used a weather or news app and 55% who had used a mapping/navigation app. Games were also the most-used apps among feature phone users (59%).

The findings point toward smartphones being used primarily for entertainment purposes while social networking is also something over half (54%) engage in. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the most-downloaded social networking application by smartphone users.

Tags: apps, downloads, gaming, mobile gamers, mobile users, smartphones