Apple's iOS widens lead over Android in US mobile Web traffic share
Mikey CampbellSource: Investing Analytics for Piper Jaffray
According to a report from investment bank Piper Jaffray, Apple's share of the mobile Web is not only dominating Android in the U.S., but has shown growth at the expense of Google's operating system, leading the firm to believe iOS users are generally more engaged with their devices than owners of rival handsets.
In a research note furnished to AppleInsider, Piper Jaffray noted that the third party data analysis from Investing Analytics showed significant growth in iOS Web share over the past three months. Android's presence, while still substantial, is shrinking.
The study included mobile traffic for 10 of the top 100 mobile websites, including Answers.com, Tumblr, ChaCha, Examiner, LinkedIn, Bleacher Report, Hubpages, White Pages, Squidoo and Dictionary.com.
"For the second straight month in our tracking of the data, iOS gained on Android as a source of mobile traffic," said analyst Gene Munster. "We believe the traffic data continues to demonstrate that iOS is not only the leading platform in the US, its users are generally more engaged with their mobile devices."
In April, Apple's iOS represented 69 percent of mobile traffic from the sites monitored, up 2.6 percent from the March average of 66.4 percent and 3.7 percent from February. Over the same period, Android was the main share loser, dropping from a 29.7 percent share to 26.5 percent.
Munster believes there are three reasons for Apple's dominance in U.S. mobile Web share: the iPhone is the most popular smartphone platform in the U.S.; iOS users are generally more engaged with their devices than their Android counterparts; and the iPad's influence in the tablet marketplace, which is seen to drive more traffic than a smartphone due to a Web-friendly form factor.
Broken down by device, the iPhone slowly ceded its lead to the iPad. For February, Apple's handset accounted for a 61.1 percent share of mobile traffic. By April, however, the iPhone fell to 58.30 percent while the iPad grew to a 41.7 percent average, up from from 38.7 percent.
"We believe that iOS is likely to continue to lead in mobile traffic generation in the US for at least the remainder of the year," Munster said.
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Originally Posted by AppleInsider
According to a report from investment bank Piper Jaffray, Apple's share of the mobile Web is not only dominating Android in the U.S., but has shown growth at the expense of Google's operating system, leading the firm to believe iOS users are generally more engaged with their devices than owners of rival handsets.
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I am honestly not trying to be a smartass here, but my reaction to this article is "So what?" How does anyone benefit from knowing that the majority of mobile web traffic comes from iOS devices? What does it mean? Why would anyone bother to check?
"A new report indicates that Volvo drivers use their cup holders more than Mercedes owners." It seems like an utterly meaningless data point.
Well, you don't ride to work on a broken bicycle.
I am honestly not trying to be a smartass here, but my reaction to this article is "So what?" How does anyone benefit from knowing that the majority of mobile web traffic comes from iOS devices? What does it mean? Why would anyone bother to check?
"A new report indicates that Volvo drivers use their cup holders more than Mercedes owners." It seems like an utterly meaningless data point.
it is for those who says that apple is doomed....
This is not worldwide trend, unfortunately...
For developers, it obvouosly has a lot to say whether people use their devices or not. So surveys like these are important, even more so because of all the analytic firms projecting sales/shipping out of the blue without real numbers from other firms than Apple and Nokia. I would however be a bit careful before I buy these latest web use numbers as representative of the whole of the US. It's based on 10 websites, incuding Linkedin, which I'd say cater to the more educated and "corporate" part of the population. So I'd conclude form this survey that a growing part of the high-income well educated segment are moving towards iOS. Other usage stat firms like StatCounter show a similar trend but less drastic: iOS growing from 52 to 55% the last 3 months, with Android flat on 40%.