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Smart-phone users just want to have fun

Software retailer Handango released a quarterly sales report of the most popular smart-phone applications; the Motorola Q had the most software purchased for it.

Marin Perez
Texas native Marin Perez had big culture shock when he moved to the Golden State. After first landing in Orange County, he then moved to San Francisco in 2005 to pursue a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University. He has worked at a few start-ups and dabbled in the print media as well. Marin watches far too much basketball, and he thinks Apple isn't really hip.
Marin Perez
handango.com

Sure, smart phone users need productivity and work programs, but according to Handango's Yardstick (the company's quarterly sales report of software for smart phones and PDAs,) they also want entertainment applications, games, and even dieting software.

Business software was the most popular category (17 percent of sales), but entertainment apps (13 percent), and games (12 percent) weren't far behind. In fact, the BlackBerry best-seller list had three ringtone, one instant messenger, and one poker game applications.

An Outlook syncing program, PocketMirror Standard, topped the Palm OS list, and synchronization applications did well across the board, as expected. A diet and exercise program was second among Palm users, but didn't rate on any other operating system's top 10 list. I would never have guessed Palm users would be so health conscious.

Mobile Windows OS users seemed to like the boob tube, as streaming television applications were the best selling. MobiTV was the top software for Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Windows Mobile Smartphone. HandiTV also did well.

As for devices, the Motorola Q was the top device for software downloads, besting the Treo 650 (the previous leader for more a year). The Research In Motion's BlackBerry Pearl was third, ahead of the Palm Treo 700p, the Cingular 8525, and the RIM BlackBerry 8703e.

Be sure to check out the full Yardstick here (FYI, it's a PDF).