We have long believed that many Android devices wind up in desk drawers, gathering dust, while Apple gadgets go bopping around on the web. That suspicion was confirmed Friday morning by new browser data showing Android usage is down 13 percent while iOS use is up. The figures by Net Applications once more illustrate the many ways to pick winners and losers.
According to Net Applications, an Internet measurement firm that tracks browser usage, the percent of mobile browser using Android has fallen 13 percent after peaking at 28 percent in November 2012. By contrast, browsers on iOS rose since October 2012 following Apple introducing the iPhone 5 and iPad mini…
Today’s numbers appear to contradict Thursday’s figures released by research firm IDC.
We reported at the time that Samsung’s Android-based smartphones had more than doubled its market share, jumping to 15 percent of the tablet market from 7.3 percent in 2011. Additionally, IDC reported Apple’s 48.1 percent year-over-year growth was overwhelmed by Samsung’s Android entry.
Android’s new gatekeeper is now fully operational at Googleplex.
Net Applications’ figures are being given more authority by observers such as Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt.
Unlike IDC, which seems to pull numbers out of thin air, Net Applications is actually counting something: The browser data from 160 million users per month weighted geographically according to the number of users in each country.
He noted that of the five tablet makers ranked by IDC, only Apple provides unit sales.
Android’s numbers are expected to rise once the next version code-named Key Lime Pie lands with Google’s Chrome as the default Chrome browser.
Until that happens, some people will always be quick to point out the discrepancy between Android winning the mobile battle and its low 24.5 percent share of web traffic.
Make sense?