American women like surfing for weather, while men prefer searching for sports news, according to an analysis of mobile data usage in the US and EU.

In a study of the habits of 70,649 Americans and 33,810 Europeans over a three month period, M:Metrics found that both sexes access news as their second priority.

It's not all fun, though. In the US, 5.2 per cent of mobile phone users are checking their work email on the move, compared to 3.8 per cent in the UK. The Spanish are most keen to stay in touch with the office with 5.7 per cent of them logging on, while only 2.2 per cent of the French bother to download their work mail.

The UK leads the field in messaging with 86.7 per cent of UK users sending text messages, compared to only 41.1 per cent of Americans - though the US is catching up fast. The Spanish seem to have got the hang of MMS, with 30.7 per cent of them exchanging pictures, though the UK is only a point or two behind.

Surprisingly, when it comes to buying content, it's the 3.1 per cent of Americans who lead the pack, with the Italians coming in at 2.5 per cent, and the rest trailing far behind.

The study also looked at the kind of content mobile users are browsing - though it excluded adult services, ringtone downloads, and gambling.

Woman are more likely to use their mobile to get maps or directions - with men presumably reluctant to admit they're lost even to a mobile phone - while in Europe weather slips below entertainment news in the female priorities. ®

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