Although the gap between Apple and Android appears to be shrinking in terms of overall market share, it’s bigger than ever when it comes to the share of the web. In October, web-connected iOS devices rose to 61.6 percent. By comparison, online Android devices comprise 18.9 percent, a paltry sliver of Google’s overall mobile market share.
According to Net Applications, which measures the share of web usage by mobile devices, connected iOS devices in October rose 7 percent to 61.64 percent, while Android’s share increased by 2 percent to 18.9 percent from 16.9 percent. Highlights of the report include Apple’s strong iPhone 4S mid-October launch and the fact that October was the first time Internet-connect Android devices overtook Java ME units, with mobile devices running Java ME falling to just 12.84 percent from 18.52 percent.
As for which mobile OS holds the lead in browsers, StatCounter reported for October Safari (when combining its iPhone and iPod touch numbers) held a 23.36 percent share of the market. By contrast, Android claimed 20.88 percent, enough to just beat out Opera.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
8 responses to “iPhone 4S Sales Boost iOS’s Web Lead Over Android”
No surprise here. As a current iPhone 4S user freed from the shackles of Android, I’m using my phone much more to access the web.
I’d say this shows that many Android users are being sold on the platform by AT&T and Verizon stores as a cheaper alternative to the iPhone, with those users not necessarily being heavy consumers of Internet data. With the exception of one AT&T employee, every time I speak to a salesperson they talk smack about Apple and the iPhone and try to sell me an Android phone. I don’t understand it… the iPhone is their number one phone in terms of sales. It’s purely speculation on my part though.
Eh? What shackles?
A two year contract.