Boom! NetMarketShare is reporting that for the month of December 2011, iOS kept its number one spot for amount of mobile web traffic with a whopping 52.1 percent. The next closest is the generic “Java ME” identifier at 21.27 percent, and rounding out third is Android traffic at 16.29 percent. I think it’s safe to lump Symbian, Blackberry, and the rest together at a measly 10.34 percent when combined. These numbers are estimates, so keep that in mind. That said, this seems pretty consistent with what we’ve seen in the past.
Without any debate, there are more Android devices sold than iOS devices. So why is iOS so dominant? Well, the iPad has a lot to do with that. Its dominance in the tablet market means a lot of people are using iPads to browse the web in a market where Android devices haven’t been able to get a foothold. Also worth noting, Mobile Safari is often subjectively noted as the best mobile web browser in terms of user experience. Browsing on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is pretty great most of the time, and that means more people are willing to go back and use it again.
If you’re using an Android device with Flash running, and you load up a Flash-heavy page, your browser will slow down and maybe even crash. Even with Flash disabled, reports of Android’s sluggish interface means that browsing the web just isn’t as pleasant on Android as it is on iOS. I argue that user frustration plays a non-trivial role in the surprising lack of Android web traffic. I’d like to hear what you think, though. Why does iOS dwarf the competition in terms of web traffic? Sound off in the comments or on Twitter.
Source: NetMarketShare
