Apple iPhone controls over 66% of all mobile web use

[AppleInsider]

In its first detailed look at web market share for cellphones, a research firm has found that Apple's iPhone represents a staggering 66.61 percent of mobile traffic while its competitors have only just gained a foothold.

Net Applications' February results show the iPhone operating system having managed over nine times the usage of its next smartphone competitor, Windows Mobile, which had just 6.91 percent of the traffic measured across tens of thousands of sites.

Other smartphone platforms haven't fared any better, according to the metrics. Google's Android and Symbian were both locked in a tie for 6.15 percent. Research in Motion's email-centric BlackBerry OS was used less often at just 2.24 percent and was even outmatched by PalmOS devices, which represented 2.37 percent of cellular web use last month.

Why the particularly wide gap exists between Apple and its rivals hasn't been explained. However, the data backs up AdMob findings which showed the iPhone getting half of all US smartphone traffic and a third of smartphone use worldwide during the month before. The use has previously been credited to a spike in Apple device ownership after the holidays as well as to the relative strength of the Safari web browser.

Mobile web market share for February 2009.

Even with such a discrepancy, Net Applications noted that the achievements of Android and BlackBerry OS are significant; Android wasn't even available before October and so gained in four months the web share that took Symbian years to achieve.

The news may have to placate Apple fans given a fairly stale month in desktop-class operating systems. Windows has reclaimed a small portion of its steadily declining share and climbed a fifth of a point to 88.42 percent, while Mac OS X share has backed down from its all-time high in January to 9.61 percent.

And compared to all operating systems, the iPhone still has the same 0.48 percent of the web -- making its usage still very small in comparison to that of the larger computing world.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

And compared to all operating systems, the iPhone still has the same 0.48 percent of the web -- making its usage still very small in comparison to that of the larger computing world.

I think that's probably a pretty good percentage considering the number of iPhones in use vs. number of computers in use.

[hill60]

This is hardly a fair comparison...

...all those other phone's are stuck at the first site waiting for the Flash to load!

[ksec]

That is good. So every company who wants their Website to be viewable on mobile will have to consider Saferi. ( Which is like the IE on mobile market )

This promotes Web Standard, and in the end helps Saferi on the desktop

[iHype]

I wonder if AdMob could distinguish between iPod Touch Safari and iPhone. While I don't want to argue about it on this forum, it's an interesting note to make that iPod Touch's Safari is commonly grouped into these results.

Not that I'm bashing here, but with the amount of iPhonies I've seen who own the phone but have no data plan, it means that mobile Safari has gained traction as a Wifi browsing device more often than not.

[fraklinc]

That number is just going to keep getting higher and higher now that mobile safari has finally stop crashing with the new firmware. The only thing in their way is Palm new WebOs which looks pretty solid but you never know, WM6.5 is pretty much same old sh*t.

[Dunks]

Originally Posted by ksec

That is good. So every company who wants their Website to be viewable on mobile will have to consider Saferi. ( Which is like the IE on mobile market )

This promotes Web Standard, and in the end helps Saferi on the desktop

yay!!

[lightstriker]

More mobile sites please. I have been using iTouch for 6 months. Some of the sites, big and small, Wikipedia, Roughly Drafted has come up mobile version. Wattpad.com where i get free e-books is great. Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely superb reading.

[iPeon]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Why the particularly wide gap exists between Apple and its rivals hasn't been explained.

No explanation needed. The reason is simply that the iPhone was designed to be used as a web tool.

It's the UI that set's it apart. When will the "experts" ever realize that a tool is not so much about function as it is about usability.

[monstrosity]

Originally Posted by hill60

This is hardly a fair comparison...

...all those other phone's are stuck at the first site waiting for the Flash to load!

hahah

[mrochester]

What I'd like to know is how many people would be using it if you weren't forced into taking data with an iPhone. The results are hardly a shocker when many millions are coerced into taking a data plan.

[iHype]

Originally Posted by iPeon

No explanation needed. The reason is simply that the iPhone was designed to be used as a web tool.

It's the UI that set's it apart. When will the "experts" ever realize that a tool is not so much about function as it is about usability.

a tool is not so much about function as it is about usability?

how can something be usable if it does not function? and what is functional if it is not used?

I think you mean it has form and function? And the experts have gotten this right, say what you want, but Opera Mini is still a fast and versatile browser amongst many platforms.

I don't know if this counts, but also on RIM products Viigo is a great RSS reader that pulls updates on your favorite sites so browsing isn't necessary especially if you don't need to dick around with your phone all day.

Different strokes for different folks. Apple's web browser is great, but still hardly dented in the desktop market. If people loved Safari so much on the mobile why hasn't this transitioned into desktop figures yet? It's available both on Windows and Mac... weird huh?

Mobile Firefox and Google Chrome when they are released will make for some interesting competition. Apple is sitting pretty in a mobile market with no competitors in sight. Not so hard to dominate when you're competition hasn't arrived yet. (I speak only in browser category here, they still lack the efficiency an productivity of other smartphones)

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple's iPhone represents a staggering 66.61 percent of mobile traffic while its competitors have only just gained a foothold.
...
Research in Motion's email-centric BlackBerry OS was used less often at just 2.24

CEOs don't have time to hang on the web. Fashionable young ladies got plenty of that.

Congrats, Apple. Nobody's arguing, you can make things happen.

[winterspan]

Originally Posted by iHype

I wonder if AdMob could distinguish between iPod Touch Safari and iPhone. While I don't want to argue about it on this forum, it's an interesting note to make that iPod Touch's Safari is commonly grouped into these results...

This has come up many times, and the short answer is yes. At least for NetApplications. I've looked at their data on their website and they definitely separated out the two in the past.

Originally Posted by mrochester

What I'd like to know is how many people would be using it if you weren't forced into taking data with an iPhone. The results are hardly a shocker when many millions are coerced into taking a data plan.

Well considering at least Verizon, Sprint and I believe AT&T as well force anyone buying a smartphone like a Blackberry, Palm, or WinMobile to have a *mandatory* data plan, I don't think it matters much. These policies used to apply solely to Blackberry, but at least with Verizon they now force it on any smartphone.

[winterspan]

Originally Posted by iHype

Not so hard to dominate when you're competition hasn't arrived yet. (I speak only in browser category here, they still lack the efficiency an productivity of other smartphones)

Well, its coming up on 24-months now and apparently most companies have hardly been trying... You would think by now that all the Taiwanese/Japanese companies would have just used faster CPUs, added more RAM, and bought licenses to Opera mobile...

The Irony of course is that Google, Palm, and everyone else will be "competing" by implementing a version of Apple's WebKit in "their" browsers...

[jittery jimmy]

I'm surprised that the reported usage of the iPhone is so low.

I help manage a large web site that has nothing to do with technology or phones or computers. I get 10's of millions of hits. And among mobile browsers, I see
- 79% iPhone
- 8% BB
- 6% Win
- 7% All others

It could be my demographic, which is basically middle class North America, Europe, and Japan. It could be our counting scheme - we don't count by "hits", but by "sessions" (local and proxy caches makes hits a pointless metric).

Even more interesting is the BROWSER RETURN RATE of logged in users. We find that roughly 85% of our users that have used the iPhone use it again against our website within a week. The next best platform is the WinCE platform, where 8% of the people who used it return with it. I take this to mean that people who use the iPhone keep using it, and people who use another platform often avoid using it.

[macxpress]

Seems like every week we get the same type of articles over and over about how the iPhone is the leader of the mobile web. We get it already!!!!

[mrtotes]

Originally Posted by mrochester

What I'd like to know is how many people would be using it if you weren't forced into taking data with an iPhone. The results are hardly a shocker when many millions are coerced into taking a data plan.

Co-erced into taking a data plan? Yeah 'cos consumers buy iPhones for it's voice features.

I can pay £5 for a non-contract voice-only phone. People buying iPhones want data on the move, if they didn't they'd have a cheap mobile and an iPod touch.

[Carniphage]

Originally Posted by mrochester

What I'd like to know is how many people would be using it if you weren't forced into taking data with an iPhone. The results are hardly a shocker when many millions are coerced into taking a data plan.

Give it a rest mrochester.

Virtually identical data plans are sold (coerced) with Blackberries, Windows Mobile devices and the G1.

Since those devices do not show the same level of data use you must concede that some other factors must come into play.

C.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by mrtotes

Co-erced into taking a data plan? Yeah 'cos consumers buy iPhones for it's voice features.

I can pay £5 for a non-contract voice-only phone. People buying iPhones want data on the move, if they didn't they'd have a cheap mobile and an iPod touch.

I don't think that's the only group of iPhone buyers. The suggestion of buying a phone and a touch means you're carrying two different electronic devices (awkward!), and the iPod touch can't dial the phone that I'm aware of. Most phones can't don't seem to sync contacts with the computer.

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by jittery jimmy

We find that roughly 85% of our users that have used the iPhone use it again against our website within a week. The next best platform is the WinCE platform, where 8% of the people who used it return with it. I take this to mean that people who use the iPhone keep using it, and people who use another platform often avoid using it.

Had people been dropping their cheap phones every week to join the iPhone community, we all would have already been there.
Let me put it another way. BB owners are indeed oftenly high fliers. Not because of BB supremacy in features or quality, but because of RIM's successful marketing, that also began earlier. And those BB owners, being middle-aged and not that numerous, neither are used to visit web sites a lot, nor are predisposed to do it with inconvenient palm size terminals, nor have enough time for it.
Cheap phones are held by the youngest people. They just can't carry iPhone, it is too large for their hands. You can't expect them to love your site steadily.
And those, who aren't mentioned above, are actually your people. They're young enough to be used to browsing web, yet they already have steady habits and know exactly why they need your site. They need browsing on the go. Thus they choose iPhone for this is the best handheld web browsing device nowadays.

[mdriftmeyer]

Clearly, from the charts results Apple is failing to capitalize on Java ME and Flash.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01

Cheap phones are held by the youngest people. They just can't carry iPhone, it is too large for their hands. You can't expect them to love your site steadily.

While the data fees may be too much for many young people, most are already paying for a cellphone and have PMPs, so I wonder how many will see the value of combining their cellphone and iPod into one device while also getting a good mobile web browser and oodles of other apps.

Even if the data fees aren't a good enough value there is still the iPod Touch which easily can replace an iPod Nano for iPod users while still offering a lot more functionality for a little more cost. I would imagine that WiFI is quite common on many college and university campuses, though perhaps not in high or secondary schools.

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by solipsism

While the data fees may be too much for many young people, most are already paying for a cellphone and have PMPs, so I wonder how many will see the value of combining their cellphone and iPod into one device while also getting a good mobile web browser and oodles of other apps.

Having heard what they say about gadgets, I guarantee you, the lack of the file exchange alone is enough to shoo 'em all away from iPhone. It is not impossible though I wouldn't be able anymore to understand what they mean...

[ivan.rnn01]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Even if the data fees aren't a good enough value there is still the iPod Touch which easily can replace an iPod Nano for iPod users while still offering a lot more functionality for a little more cost. I would imagine that WiFI is quite common on many college and university campuses, though perhaps not in high or secondary schools.

Still seems to be too weighty.

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by mrochester

What I'd like to know is how many people would be using it if you weren't forced into taking data with an iPhone. The results are hardly a shocker when many millions are coerced into taking a data plan.

Why would anyone want to buy an iPhone without a data plan? It would make a large portion of the phone's features useless! You can't depend on WiFi for internet as its not around every corner like some think it is. Not everyone lives in a large city where that may be true.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Why would anyone want to buy an iPhone without a data plan? It would make a large portion of the phone's features useless! You can't depend on WiFi for internet as its not around every corner like some think it is. Not everyone lives in a large city where that may be true.

Because you're being unimaginative and not remembering all the features that don't require internet? Or maybe you don't realize that it's possible to live life for a few minutes at a time away from the internet?

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Because you're being unimaginative and not remembering all the features that don't require internet? Or maybe you don't realize that it's possible to live life for a few minutes at a time away from the internet?

Or because you didn't READ my post! Or if you did, you didn't comprehend what I said. I said it would make the majority of the features useless, iTunes Store, Apps Store, Mail, Maps, etc would no longer function. Not to mention the thousands of apps that require internet access, PayPal, eBay, Facebook, AOL IM, just to name a few.

Basically you'd be buying an iPhone just to say you have an iPhone when you'd be better off getting something else that better suits your needs. The iPhone can't be everything to everyone even though some like to think it can be and then bitch when it isn't.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Or because you didn't READ my post! Or if you did, you didn't comprehend what I said. I said it would make the majority of the features useless, iTunes Store, Apps Store, Mail, Maps, etc would no longer function. Not to mention the thousands of apps that require internet access, PayPal, eBay, Facebook, AOL IM, just to name a few.

Many of those are apps that don't require 24/7 internet access. On that list, maps is the only thing whose usefulness really is mostly negated. It's still a very useful device and it reduces the number of devices people are required to carry around.

Basically you'd be buying an iPhone just to say you have an iPhone when you'd be better off getting something else that better suits your needs. The iPhone can't be everything to everyone even though some like to think it can be and then bitch when it isn't.

It's still a highly useful device without said 24/7 internet, and I think to say otherwise, says a lack of imagination or it's treating the internet like a pacemaker.

So far the alternative solution bandied about is "just get a cheap phone and a Touch" or "a phone and an ipod", which seems to ignore that it's still two separate devices, and many phones generally can't sync contacts and calendar with the computer. But maybe if we're consistent, maybe we should say the Touch is mostly useless because it has most of the same features except that it doesn't have that cellular data teat.

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Many of those are apps that don't require 24/7 internet access. On that list, maps is the only thing whose usefulness really is mostly negated. It's still a very useful device and it reduces the number of devices people are required to carry around.

Bullshit they don't. You can't check email without internet, you can't access either store without internet. You can't load maps without internet, etc. You must have some kind of magical iPhone. I want one of those!!!

Yes, you can do other things with the phone without internet and it does sometimes make it so you only have to carry around 1 device. The majority however use the internet on their phone. It a major selling point of the phone, I'd say probably the biggest selling points. So it just proves my point of why anyone would want to get an iPhone without internet is beyond me....

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Bullshit they don't. You can't check email without internet, you can't access either store without internet. You can't load maps without internet, etc. You must have some kind of magical iPhone. I want one of those!!!

I'm saying that most of that business can be done by WiFi (which I've heard is internet too) when the user isn't wandering around between waypoints. The maps are the only thing on your list that you have to have data when on the go, most of the other use can be postponed for a few minutes.

[wizard69]

IPhone is no longer a cell phone but a communications device concieved by the devil.


OK enough with the jokeing. I have to ask what did people expect from the iPhone. In my case the whole reason to purchase the thing was to have access to my mail and to a slightly lesser extent the web. Frankly I use it for web access more than I thought I would and has been mentioned Safari becoming more stable just makes it easier to use on the web.

The statistics are nice, don't get me wrong, but they are just that. I'd rather know how satisfied the users are with their web experience. Here is where iPhone and Touch really win.


Dave

[TenoBell]

Originally Posted by iHype

Different strokes for different folks. Apple's web browser is great, but still hardly dented in the desktop market. If people loved Safari so much on the mobile why hasn't this transitioned into desktop figures yet? It's available both on Windows and Mac... weird huh?

I think you've confused the two versions of Safari.

The mobile version of Safari has begun to be a blip in desktop marketshare. Mobile Safari has .48% of desktop browser marketshare, roughly half the marketshare of Linux.

Desktop Safari is available on Windows and Mac. That version of Safari has about 10% of desktop marketshare. Mobile Safari on the iPhone is only available on the iPhone and iTouch.

Mobile Firefox and Google Chrome when they are released will make for some interesting competition. Apple is sitting pretty in a mobile market with no competitors in sight. Not so hard to dominate when you're competition hasn't arrived yet. (I speak only in browser category here, they still lack the efficiency an productivity of other smartphones)

You make it sound as though you don't succeed because you've created a better product, but only because others have failed to be as good as you.

[SpamSandwich]

In other news... great stuff for jailbreakers:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16045...s_arrived.html

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I'm saying that most of that business can be done by WiFi (which I've heard is internet too) when the user isn't wandering around between waypoints. The maps are the only thing on your list that you have to have data when on the go, most of the other use can be postponed for a few minutes.

The phone would simply be a failure if users had to rely on WiFi.....

[mrochester]

Originally Posted by Carniphage

Give it a rest mrochester.

Virtually identical data plans are sold (coerced) with Blackberries, Windows Mobile devices and the G1.

Since those devices do not show the same level of data use you must concede that some other factors must come into play.

C.

Let's try a different analogy so that hopefully you can get it!

There are 2 TVs for sale. A Sony one that comes with 12 months 'free' Sky TV, and a Panasonic one that doesn't. Let's say 100 of each are sold. 6 months we look and see which model has the highest rate of Sky subscriptions. I doesn't take a genius to work out that the Sony will have the highest rate since you get the Sky TV 'free' with the purchase. If you apply the iPhone logic to this scenario, the conclusion would be that the Sony TV is a far better product for watching Sky TV. This is clearly an obsurd conclusion.

The only thing that the number of web hits from an iPhone shows is.... the number of hits from iPhones. It cannot be compared in any way to products that don't have mandatory data plans. Let's say someone bought the iPhone because they like the style of the device. If data wasn't automatically included, they may not have chosen to buy a data package. However, their internet usage is included into the stats even though it is coincidental usage. As a result, there will be a significant number of people whose iPhone data usage would otherwise not exist if they had not been required to have data plan with their purchase. This in turn overly inflates data usage in favour of the iPhone, which people then draw conclusions from!

[TenoBell]

This is a pretty stretched conclusion.

You attempt to absolve the consumer of the choice they've made. Consumers go into the purchase of the iPhone fully knowing what is involved. They choose the iPhone and its data plan. If they did not want the data plan they would not choose the iPhone.

Many smartphones don't have WiFi included. This is a built in way to make a data plan mandatory as the only way to make full use of the phone.

Originally Posted by mrochester

.
The only thing that the number of web hits from an iPhone shows is.... the number of hits from iPhones. It cannot be compared in any way to products that don't have mandatory data plans. Let's say someone bought the iPhone because they like the style of the device. If data wasn't automatically included, they may not have chosen to buy a data package. However, their internet usage is included into the stats even though it is coincidental usage. As a result, there will be a significant number of people whose iPhone data usage would otherwise not exist if they had not been required to have data plan with their purchase. This in turn overly inflates data usage in favour of the iPhone, which people then draw conclusions from!

[mrochester]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

This is a pretty stretched conclusion.

You attempt to absolve the consumer of the choice they've made. Consumers go into the purchase of the iPhone fully knowing what is involved. They choose the iPhone and its data plan. If they did not want the data plan they would not choose the iPhone.

Many smartphones don't have WiFi included. This is a built in way to make a data plan mandatory as the only way to make full use of the phone.

You're saying there that every single iPhone user chooses the iPhone because of the data plan, and that's clearly nonsense! People buy them because of the cache of owning an Apple product, because the device looks sleek, because they like the interface, and for any number of other reasons. Subsequently, the data usage of these consumers is coincidental, yet it's all bundled in there with the overal statisitics.

For nearly every other phone on the market, data plans are optional. If you want an iPhone for any reason other than the data bundle, you are going to end up with the data bundle anyway. Subsequently, comparing that to devices where data is optional, is completely flawed.

[hill60]

Originally Posted by mrochester

Let's try a different analogy so that hopefully you can get it!

There are 2 TVs for sale. A Sony one that comes with 12 months 'free' Sky TV, and a Panasonic one that doesn't. Let's say 100 of each are sold. 6 months we look and see which model has the highest rate of Sky subscriptions. I doesn't take a genius to work out that the Sony will have the highest rate since you get the Sky TV 'free' with the purchase. If you apply the iPhone logic to this scenario, the conclusion would be that the Sony TV is a far better product for watching Sky TV. This is clearly an obsurd conclusion.

The only thing that the number of web hits from an iPhone shows is.... the number of hits from iPhones. It cannot be compared in any way to products that don't have mandatory data plans. Let's say someone bought the iPhone because they like the style of the device. If data wasn't automatically included, they may not have chosen to buy a data package. However, their internet usage is included into the stats even though it is coincidental usage. As a result, there will be a significant number of people whose iPhone data usage would otherwise not exist if they had not been required to have data plan with their purchase. This in turn overly inflates data usage in favour of the iPhone, which people then draw conclusions from!

So someone who wants Sky would prefer the Sony just like someone who wants to use the web would prefer the iPhone.

P.S. What's a waypoint, we don't have them here, all we have are people who don't secure their wireless networks.

[TenoBell]

Originally Posted by mrochester

You're saying there that every single iPhone user chooses the iPhone because of the data plan, and that's clearly nonsense!

That's clearly not what I was saying. I said everyone who chooses the iPhone knows it comes with a data plan. If users did not want the required data plan, they would choose a phone that did not require a data plan.

For nearly every other phone on the market, data plans are optional. If you want an iPhone for any reason other than the data bundle, you are going to end up with the data bundle anyway. Subsequently, comparing that to devices where data is optional, is completely flawed.

There are other factors involved that you ignore for the convenience of your argument. As I stated before many smartphones don't have WiFi, data is the only way to access the internet. What would be the purpose of buying a smartphone if it cannot access to net at all. You also include no statistics of the number of people who opt out of data plans. Smartphone data use is growing.

Your conclusion is too simple to account for the fact that the iPhone holds over 66% of the mobile data share but only roughly 13% of the over all smartphone market.