For Irish internet users it appears that weather and jokes were by far the most sought after applications on portals in 2009, according to telecoms software player FeedHenry.
FeedHenry tracked six million application views on a number of Irish portals, and found that in one month Irish internet users spent eight times more time reading jokes than the next most popular application, best fuel prices. Not surprisingly the weather featured continually amongst the top most popular downloaded applications.
Looking back over 2009, FeedHenry found that while applications such as news were more likely to be downloaded, more time was spent reading jokes.
Irish Internet users spent eight times more time on jokes than on breaking news, or reading sports news. Reading last minute holiday deals took up less than 10pc of the total time spent on jokes.
In contrast with time spent on applications, FeedHenry also looked at what were the most popular downloaded applications.
Not surprisingly the weather featured regularly in the top 10 most popular applications throughout 2009.
Over a four-month period in 2009, the top applications downloaded by Irish internet users included; seven different news widgets, five different sports widgets, four travel widgets (which included weather) and four games and entertainment widgets.
“Application usage was an interesting indicator of Irish lifestyle choices in 2009,” said Barry Downes, CEO, FeedHenry.
“Maybe it’s because of the weather or the economy but, when Irish internet users go online they are preoccupied with downloading weather applications, and the vast majority of time is devoted to reading jokes,” Downes added.
“Similar to an application store, FeedHenry builds personal services portals for companies where customers can go to download a range of applications.
“Users can then take the applications with them wherever they want to go whether that’s to a social networking site or to their mobile phone. The top three applications that users take to their favorite locations for regular use include last minute holiday deals, online dating and best fuel prices apps,” Downes said.
By John Kennedy
