iPhone 4S Fails, Android Browser Leads Mobile Market Race
Source: Jean Xiam Sun
Chrome for Android web browser
Despite recording an impressive iPhone 4S sales number last quarter, Apple’s “iPhone web browser” fails to grab mobile web browser’s top spot, Android leads while Opera drops 1 place.
Now you know why Google wants a big shift from Android web browser to Chrome!
Statcounter unveiled this week the new data (as of February 2012) presenting the top mobile web browsers in the world.
For the not-so-geeky readers, mobile web browsers have their own Billboard-thingy, while the more traditional desktop web browsers also have their chart.
Now here’s the latest count according to Statcounter, Android’s native (always pre-installed on Android devices) web browser is now the mobile web browser’s market leader with a 22.67 percent of the market.
Compared to the native Android browser’s January market share, new Android devices activated this month pushed the app’s share by nearly 1.28 percent upswing beating the former market leader Opera with a February 2012 market share of 21.7 which is 1.64 percent lower compared to its January 2012 market share.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone 4S is surprisingly not enough to push the Safari iPhone web browser to the top-end of the chart. The data suggested that Apple’s “iPhone web browser” or technically the Safari web browser running on Apple smartphones, gained 1.55 percent and achieved the impressive 21.06 percent mobile web browser market share as of last month.
Apple’s iPhone web browser started to generate new customers during the August-October time frame while Nokia’s web browser share dropped nearly 4 points last year.
The iPhone 4S arguably helped a lot, plus the fact that Apple started selling the cheapest iPhone 4 with 8GB storage last year. For starters, more iPhone users will push Apple’s mobile web browser’s market share.
This year, Google is expected to initiate a “big shift” from Android web browser to the new Chrome for Android web app.
The Chrome for Android works with Android Ice Cream Sandwich only but Google said in a blog post that it will continue to develop Chrome, plus, new devices are set to join the market this year so Chrome For Android will surely receive its first mobile web browser numbers before the end of the current fiscal year. I should also note that some Android 2.3 devices (like the Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note, Droid RAZR) are scheduled to receive the ICS update this year.
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