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.
Source: Investing Analytics for Piper Jaffray
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.