According to Net Applications' newest quarterly report, Apple's iPhone platform has captured 0.9% of the browser market, which is a lot more significant than you might think upon first glance. In just five months on the market - and in only the US market, to boot - iPhone has overtaken all of the Windows mobile platform devices put together; WindowsCE's share checked in at 0.6%, or two-thirds of the share iPhone currently commands. Symbian devices and Sidekicks? Even smaller shares, at 0.01% and 0.02%, respectively.
How could Apple have grabbed such a (relatively) large share of the browser market in less than two fiscal quarters? According to Seth Weintraub at Computerworld Blogs, it may have as much to do with iPhone's unlimited data plan as it does with the excellent Safari mobile browser that comes pre-installed on the device:
"Obviously this doesn't translate to handset marketshare. We know there are much more than 20 million Windows Mobile devices out there. The reason that Apple's browser marketshare is higher while its unit sales are much lower is explained easily by the oft-touted Mobile Safari browser and unlimited AT&T data plan. No guilt, pleasurable, full-browser surfing."
And in case you're wondering, Windows XP is still the browser marketshare leader with an overwhelming 78.37% share. The next closest platform is Windows Vista, with a share of just under 9.2%.
See the complete ranking list at ComputerWorld blogs.
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