iPhone holds commanding lead in mobile browsing

Leaving its rival way far behind, the iPhone has a commanding lead in mobile browsing share market according to the first of its kind data, released by web analytics firm Net Applications
The data reveals that while the iPhone had a staggering market share of 66.61 per cent or nine times more than its closest competitor, Windows mobile with a mere 6.91 per cent.

What came as a real surprise was that Blackberry had just 2.24 per cent of the browser share although there are more Blackberry's than iPhone in the US market.

But that is because a large number of Blackberries use the default WAP browser instead of the HTML, which Net Application clarified, saying, "Our mobile share methodology measures share for browser capable mobile devices. This means the mobile device must be able to render HTML pages and javascript. Visits to WAP pages are not included."

"Although the iPhone has a commanding lead in mobile browsing share, Android and BlackBerry are rapidly gaining market share. This does not mean that iPhone Web browsing is shrinking, because the overall market is growing rapidly," the report notes.

Other platforms are also way down the list as Google's Android and Symbian were both at 6.15 per cent while PalmOS devices had a mobile web use of 2.37 per cent.

Android has really surprised many as it came into the market in October but in a short span of three months was able to corner a market share, which took its rival like Symbian, two years to achieve and looks likely to overtake Windows Mobile in the coming months.

Total market share:

• iPhone - 66.61 per cent
• Windows Mobile – 6.91 per cent
• Java ME - 9.06 per cent
• Android - 6.15 per cent
• Symbian - 6.15 per cent
• Palm - 2.37 per cent
• BlackBerry - 2.24 per cent
• BREW – 0.51 per cent