iPhone users have twice as much time free for playing games as other smartphone users and app downloaders are willing to pay for the games they play.

If you’re wondering whether games are the market to go for, the answer is Yes, according to research from Nielsen which found that games are the most popular download category and the one people are most willing to pay for. Given that the same survey found iPhone users spent twice the time of other phone users playing games, the iPhone sounds a good market to try.

The evidence that iPhone users are games-playing sofa-huggers is seen in the fact that while the average mobile gamer plays 7.8 hours a month, those with iPhones play around 14.7 hours each month while those with Android smartphones play around 9.3 hours per month.

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The Neilsen survey found that not only are games the most popular app category, but 93 percent of those who have downloaded an app within the past 30 days are willing to pay for games, compared to 76 percent of downloaders overall.

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64 percent of downloaders have downloaded a game in the last month, which is understandable. What’s more surprising is that 60 percent said they’d downloaded a weather app, above 56 percent who chose a social networking app and way ahead of music (44 percent), sports (25 percent) and travel (18 percent). Can weather apps be that innovative?