Posts Tagged ‘apple’
Mobile Market Share on the Move - Is Android Superior?
It would appear that based on data which would indicate people’s habit with their mobile devices, that the Android offers a better user experience for surfing the Internet than the Google iPhone. While the Android and the iPhone’s share of the overall browser market continues to grow, it is surprising to note that despite the iPhone’s lead in activations, mobile web usage of phone browsers powered by Google’s Android appears to be picking up steam faster than Apple’s iPhone.
The last time I posted market share numbers around web browser referrals to web sites from mobile devices, the various devices had not yet even broken a combined 1% total share. It appears that milestone’s long gone now, as shown in the chart below. Looking at the graph, and data, there’s more going on beyond the obvious “Google’s Android web usage is exploding faster than Apple’s iPhone.” The reality is while that fact is important, and can be attributed in part to the diversity (60) of devices running the Android OS, versus the four devices running Apple’s iphone, the diversity of devices in stores is minor compared to the fact that there are many more Apple iPhone devices in circulation. Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4’s within days of release along, and has years worth activation , compared to 160,000 Android phones being activated daily. That gap pales when comparing the mobile browser usage numbers.
A while back Steve Jobs was quoted that most iPhone activity goes via apps, versus search or traditional browser. I found that comment interesting as it reflects a different layer of Internet activity which most of us ignore. While this likely is true, the stunning growth rate in overall web browser usage from Androids v. iPhones reveals something else: People with Android phones use them quite differently from those who have iPhones.
While putting together these numbers, I happened to read Peter Sims’ Tech Crunch’s article “Is Google at Risk of Becoming the Next Microsoft.” When I look at these numbers, the answer definitely becomes no. Just the innovation is not in the same area as before.
Now, I don’t own either an Android or an iPhone. I do have a Blackberry Bold 2, which is great for email and has good sound quality, but it lacks the quality browser experience which might entice me to surf via my phone. If I have to look something up online using my Blackberry, it’s a last resort. Conversely, that function is key to both the Android and iPhone. However, it appears that despite Apple’s massive lead in total footprint based on activations, Android is making that experience much more positive, and as a consequence, Android owners are much more likely to surf using their devices.
The web sites which we are tracking, and using as a basis for the data that we are reporting are not likely to be accessed directly via apps. Apologies for the timescale jump, for those who like the raw numbers:
| iPhone | Android | Blackberry | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | 0.448% | 0.038% | 0.026% | |
| Aug | 0.591% | 0.045% | 0.033% | |
| Sept | 0.583% | 0.043% | 0.041% | |
| Oct | 0.663% | 0.049% | 0.044% | |
| July 2010 | 1.070% | 0.483% | 0.051% |
Eightfold Logic collects data from a network of web sites distributed globally.
Browser Share Report and More…
Last week I posted some information about user behavior in relation to depth of visit. This week I’m going to share some data regarding how different browsers result in varying user behavior.
For the month of November, I decided to break down the user behavior differences behind Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Google’s Chrome. At first glance one would assume that if someone visits a web site time on site and pages viewed should not be affected by browser. Yet, this is not the case. One could argue that Chrome and Firefox users are more sophisticated, as evidenced by the fact that they deleted their default browser, Safari and MSIE usage is almost identical, which should be the norm if default browsers were used, as it reflects the simplest behavior patterns. The most sophisticated users would change away from the defaults, and be faster / less patient in navigating sites.
Are Mac users really any more sophisticated than Windows users; perhaps not…?
| Browser | Percentage of Visitors | Average Pages Viewed | Average Time on Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSIE | 60.38% | 4.60 | 0:04:08 |
| Firefox | 25.08% | 3.85 | 0:03:42 |
| Safari | 8.58% | 4.33 | 0:04:01 |
| Chrome | 3.42% | 3.65 | 0:03:35 |
The change in browser usage away from MSIE is truly stunning. I’m going to monitor this drop, and Chrome’s surge in case it was Holiday related. Stranger things have happened.
About the data. Enquisite works with thousands of sites worldwide and captures a trove of relevant search-related data every day. The browser shares reported here are based on data from a selection of Enquisite-tagged sites that cumulatively represent over 350 million page views/month, across most major industry sectors - a very significant sample size. The data reported solely reflects our data.