Not Quite Right: New Report says iPhone has a Commanding Lead in Mobile Browsing Share

Written by Lidija Davis / March 1, 2009 4:25 PM / 8 Comments

"There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance," Steve Ballmer told USA Today a few years ago. Seems the CEO's perception of the iPhone and its potential success may have been just a little bit off.

According to the first detailed look at mobile browsing by Web metrics firm Net Applications, the iPhone dominates the mobile browsing market with a 66.61% share. But do the numbers add up?

"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.

At first glance, the report looks promising until you notice that the BlackBerry only has a 2.24% market share. Odd, given Gartner recently reported that there are more BlackBerry's out in the world than there are iPhones. Look a little further and it starts to makes sense.

Information about Net Applications mobile share methodology can be found here, but in a nutshell:

"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."

VIsits to WAP pages are not included? As in the WAP browser you can install on BlackBerry OS version 2.5 and higher?

As Philip Elmer-DeWitt pointed out earlier today: "Net Applications is judging the race for mobile Web dominance using the rules set by the iPhone," which we think pretty much sums it up.

Comments

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Very useful, as long as we have a flat or a good data tariff, the service for iPhone by ZumoDrive.

Posted by: 8 O'clock Posts | March 1, 2009 5:18 PM

I'd hardly call WAP to be much of a web-browsing experience. It's quite legitimate for the survey company to only include HTML + JavaScript. WAP is dead.

I'd be interested in how many mobile browsers are visiting Flash sites, something the iPhone can't do.

Posted by: Sam | March 1, 2009 5:27 PM

sure, let's all forget about opera mini!

Posted by: arty | March 1, 2009 5:47 PM

Agree with Sam, WAP is dead and should not be counted anymore.

Posted by: PXLated | March 1, 2009 5:59 PM

WAP? WTF?

My pearl has a (pretty average) web browser, I doubt WAP is installed on any RIM device by default these days.

Also I don't particularly like surfing the web on my BB, but I do it a lot on my Touch, so yeah market share doesn't have to equal share of browsing....

Posted by: Ross | March 1, 2009 7:45 PM

Nothing like the cold comfort of WAP marketshare to help fool yourself into believing that you're not getting your ass handed to you.

Posted by: Jason Grigsby | March 1, 2009 7:58 PM

I'm not sure I'd say WAP isn't valid anymore, well maybe in the US. It's still quite wildly used here in Japan, and you know. It's fast. A well designed iPhone site is nice if it's available. Often I wish I could be visiting the WAP site rather then the full page. US companies just never used it, or rather probably didn't need to.

Posted by: Charles | March 1, 2009 9:15 PM

Have had WAP on my phones for 8 years. How many times have I used it in 8 years? 8. And mostly be accident from pressing the wrong buttons.

Posted by: DJ Chang | March 2, 2009 11:09 AM