macnn

04/09/2008, 4:40pm, EDT

Wednesday, April 9th

Safari: most popular mobile browser in US

StatCounter today revealed that Safari is the most popular web browser in use in the United States, surpassing Windows Mobile, Palm, and Opera by a wide margin. According to Yahoo, Safari occupies 0.23 percent of US web traffic, with Nokia devices coming in at around 0.08 percent. Internationally, however, their positions are reversed: Nokia was found to have the top tier spot with 0.25 percent share, while the iPhone came in second with 0.08 percent.

Net Applications found that the iPhone and iPod touch saw 0.19 percent of global web traffic, with Windows Mobile following at 0.06 percent. It does not account for Nokia's share, and the Safari findings allegedly contain all desktop Safari versions as well.

Gartner analyst Neil McDonald says the reason that the iPhone and iPod touch are so successful is that Safari provides a full browser experience, rather than the typically trimmed down browsers found on Palm and Windows Mobile devices. He also claims that the variety of stripped down applications like Office create an awkward system for most users. He recommends that Microsoft consider blending its Zune MP3 players with its mobile OS platform in an attempt to garner the same attention the iPhone does.


Filed under: iPhone, Apple, industry, software, networking
Other story tags: Windows Mobile, Palm, browser, Web traffic

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International results
0
04/09, 5:36pm, EDT
Interesting that the iPhone isn't available in nearly as many as countries as Nokias are but yet it still accounts for a significant portion of mobile browser share.

A country-by-country comparison in countries where the iPhone is available could be telling...
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date:Sep 2000
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.25 percent?
0
04/09, 6:23pm, EDT
gee, 1/4 of a percent.

how about 25 percent?
Mac Elite
Join Date:Jan 2000
Status:Offline
so, where does...
0
04/09, 7:13pm, EDT
.... Windows Mobile's browser feature, then?

Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date:Jan 2005
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Best Mobile Browser
0
04/09, 9:30pm, EDT
I've carried just about every Smartphone and Blackberry for many years and in my opinion, there is no mobile browser that even comes close to having Safari on the iPhone. It's in a class of it's own
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date:Jun 2006
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hey msuper...
0
04/10, 12:59am, EDT
...they mean .25 percent of ALL web browsers, not just mobile.

mobile traffic is still a fraction of web traffic in the US. mostly due to how crappy mobile browsing is, except for with safari, hence its lead. it's so much more like a typical web experience that people are far more inclined to use it often, versus owners of other mobile browsers.

doesn't mean more people have safari mobile, just that sfarai mobile is far more useful and its users are hitting websites much more frequently and for longer periods of time.

impressive, considering how shitty AT&Ts EDGE service is. must be a lot fo that traffic happening over WiFi.
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No Flash = Not full web
0
04/10, 6:29am, EDT
Steve Jobs keeps saying that Safari isn't the "mobile web", but the "full web", yet we still don't have flash after almost a year. Without flash, you can't even visit some sites, because navigation doesn't work.

I despise it when I have to put off viewing content until I get to my computer because the website requires Flash.

Without Flash, it isn't the full web.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
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