Video Games the Most Popular and Valued Apps for iPhone, Android Users

Games remain the king of mobile apps, according to recent Nielsen research. The data shows that not only are games the most used app over the past 30 days, but also that users are more willing to pay for games than any other apps.

According to the Nielsen Co., 93 percent of app downloaders are willing to pay for games and 64 percent of users claim games as the app they've used the most over the past 30 days. In comparison, 76 percent of users are willing to pay for news apps.

Other popular apps users are willing to pay for include: entertainment (87 percent), productivity (84 percent), and maps/navigation (84 percent).

Even within the game user category, there are some wide differences between the types of phones that play the most games. iPhone and Android owners far and away play the most games on their phones, spending 14.7 hours and 9.3 hours per month on games, respectively. Whereas Blackberry owners only spend about 4.7 hours per month playing games.

In addition to games, those mobile users also were fond of: weather apps (60 percent), social networking (56 percent), and maps/navigation (54 percent).

The company surveys about 300,000 people annually for its mobile user research and about 4,000 app downloaders.