COLUMBIA, Md., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A larger percentage of iPhone® users in the Arbitron Mobile U.S. smartphone panel—85.7 percent—played mobile gaming apps in December 2012 compared to Android™-using panelists—76 percent. iPhone mobile gamers in the panel also accessed gaming apps more often with an average of 151.5 sessions each month than Android gamers, who accessed gaming apps an average of 94.6 sessions a month.

iPhone gamers in the panel spent an average of 12 hours, 23 minutes using mobile gaming apps in December. In contrast, game-playing panelists with Android smartphones spent an average of 8 hours, 4 minutes with game apps.

Source:  Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels™ Service; United States; December 2012

Gaming garners the most time spent for any smartphone functions

Mobile gamers, who account for 78.8 percent of the U.S. panel, spent more time with their gaming apps—9 hours, 54 minutes—than smartphone users spent with other apps and functions such as social networking, messaging, browsing, and voice calls.

Source:  Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels Service; United States; December 2012

Top games vary by platform

Words With Friends™ was the most popular game among all Arbitron Mobile smartphone panelists in December. The game has a larger proportion of fans among iPhone users than among Android users.

Source:  Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels Service; United States; December 2012

For selected top games that are available to users of Apple iOS and Google Android, different platforms delivered the most avid fans in terms of users, time spent with the games, and user sessions.

Source:  Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels Service; United States; December 2012

About Arbitron Mobile

Arbitron Mobile Oy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arbitron Inc., uses a proprietary, on-device software meter to provide marketers, the media, content providers, app developers, and wireless access suppliers with information on how mobile consumers use apps, surf the web, engage in social media, participate in e-commerce, and employ their devices to communicate. The Arbitron Mobile technology supports all major smartphone platforms including tablets.

The service is designed to report reach, frequency, usage and consumer engagement with all key functions and activities of their mobile devices, whether the device is online, connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network, or used offline.

For more information, contact: mobile@arbitron.com

The Arbitron Mobile panel in the United States consists of approximately 12,000 persons, age 18 and older, who voluntarily install the proprietary software meter onto their iOS, Android, or BlackBerry mobile devices.

Arbitron Mobile-based services are available in eight countries:  the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland, China, Indonesia, and Japan.

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media—radio, television, cable, and out-of-home; the mobile industry as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron's businesses include:  measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media, and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company has developed the Portable People Meter™ (PPM®) and the PPM 360™, new technologies for media and marketing research.

Portable People Meter™, PPM®, PPM 360™and Arbitron Mobile Trends Panels™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.

iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Android is a trademark of Google Inc. 
Words With Friends, Scramble With Friends, and Draw Something are trademarks of Zynga Inc.; Angry Birds is a trademark of Rovio Mobile Ltd.; Star Wars is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.; Temple Run is a trademark of Imangi Studios, LLC.; The Simpsons is a trademark of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Slotomania is a service mark of Playtika Ltd.; SongPop is a trademark of FreshPlanet Inc.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.