Killer iPhone App: Weather

A hat tip to my colleague Joe who continues to cite that at least in his life weather is the killer mobile app. He’s got company, per Compete which released figures on the most used iPhone apps. This from MediaPost, who got a preview of the report:

According to an upcoming report on smartphone usage by online market research firm Compete, 39% of iPhone users cited weather-related apps as one of the three kinds of applications they use most frequently.

Now, Anthony Ha, atVentureBeat, from whom I sourced the MediaPost story, adds the “rest of the story.”

So the fact that users check the weather again and again, even as the novelty fades from other apps, is information that may be useful to advertisers. (I’m less optimistic that there’s a huge opportunity for developers to create a cool, new innovative weather app, although I’m willing to be surprised.)

Another way to look at this: the information may be valuable to developers: how can they “tap into” the compelling nature of weather to make their apps more compelling? I’ll go back to my initial thoughts on the matter from some years ago, when I flew kites: I wanted to be alerted (ideally ahead of time) when the conditions (which I would define based on temp, wind, rain, etc.) were ideal for flying not where I am now, but at my favorite beach (then Nahant).