Apple’s revolutionary iPhone gained more global mobile Web browsing share than Android in May, going from 30.3% to 32.8% (+2.5 percentage points), according to new stats released by NetApplications.
This, the month before a new iPhone is expected to debut.
In the same timeframe, Android went from 5.3% to 6.2% (+0.9 percentage point).
Java ME (which stands for micro-edition) still maintains the number spot as the most popular platform for mobile browsing accorind to NetApplications’ figures. This platform is in use on a large variety of devices and is rapidly losing share to both iPhone and Android.
More info via NetApplications here.
Net Applications’ data shows that the first wave of Apple’s international release of the iPad has led to a spike in iPad usage share. The iPad was released to the following nine countries on May 28: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. iPad now holds roughly 0.16% of global mobile Web browsing share.
More info about iPad share via NetApplications here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
This article is an example of numbers dont lie – people do.
While the article compares a 2.5% iPhone increase to a .9% Android increase, the proper analysis is that Android increased 17% while iPhone increased 8%.
This is how the math is done:
6.2% divided by 5.3% is 1.1698 or about 17% increase.
32.8% divided by 30.3% is 1.0825 or about 8% increase.
This indicates the Android base is growing faster than the iPhone base. Probably a story (slant) the author did not want to tell.
The Android base is much smaller so a proper comparison needs to be normalized.
@maclouie:
So, if I sold 100 widgets last month, then 200 this month, my growth rate would be a whopping 100%. But that sure isn’t saying much compared to my competitor who sold 5000 last month and 5500 this month, now is it?
Maclouie…
Say there is 100% of a pie, and I give you an extra fork full beyond the 1/20th of a piece you already had.
Then I give myself another 1/2 of a piece beyond the two full pieces I had.
Who’s gonna be happier.
And all of you here prove that you can claim pretty much anything using statistics.
Or, as Mark Twain used to quote Disraeli (apparently, mistakenly): “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Having said that, if we were to dissect those numbers further, one could argue as follows:
The total market-share pie is (obviously) 100%. Therefore, for every 1% of gain, somebody else is to lose 1%. Also, even if Android’s own growth is much faster than Apple’s, you’re talking about relative growth (from 5% to 6% is 20% relative growth, but it still only took another 1% of the market, while Apple took 2% (I’m rounding up the numbers here for simplicity). Even if the two companies continued to grow at the same relative pace (17% and 8%) Apple will continue to gain roughly 2% of the total market for Android’s 1% growth. In other words, Android won’t stand a chance to catch up, unless the growth rate accelerates rapidly (which it likely won’t).
Or to put it in simple terms it is plainly obvious that you can increase from a small base at a greater apparent percentage rate far easier than you can from a much larger and mature base, its simple maths. The only spur needs to be gaining public awareness to achieve that. Time shows whether it is significant of course.
NetApps is only good for trend analysis. Their data has been massaged, which makes it less accurate.
They use the World Factbook’s user figures to adjust their raw data. Those user figures could be up to 3 years old, and they consider a farmer in China who accesses the net once in 3 months as equal to a user who accesses the internet 10 hours a day. In other words the user data is utter rubbish, and this is what NetApps is using to modify their data.
Ok here we go…
345,655,765,899,543 billion flies eat shit, that doesn’t make it good for me.
That’s why I use Apple products.
And with the widely advertised (this past weekend) Verizon Motorola Android 2-for-1 sale, how will those numbers be further skewed???
Really helps when you have to give away a phone (for FREE) with every one you sell.
@ Ubermac,
But it costs a lot to feed you but nothing to feed the flies, Shit Happens.
@ Ubermac
That’s the best use of a statistic I’ve ever heard. Thank you!
…”And with the widely advertised (…) Motorola Android 2-for-1 sale, how will those numbers be further skewed???”
That doesn’t really skew any numbers. Those Motorola Droid devices represent legitimate market share of mobile phones.
It does mean whoever is behind the BOGO deal (whether Motorola or Verizon) will end up with significantly lower profits because of it. But we are NOT discussing profits (nor revenue) on sold handhelds. We’re discussing current market share, and iPhone seems to be extending its lead against the Android devices.
“This is how the math is done:
6.2% divided by 5.3% is 1.1698 or about 17% increase.
32.8% divided by 30.3% is 1.0825 or about 8% increase.
This indicates the Android base is growing faster than the iPhone base. Probably a story (slant) the author did not want to tell.”
No, that’s not how the math is done. You must look at what percentage of the potential market each OS was able to capture. For example something with 98% market share can at best only increase its share by 2 more points. If it increased its share by 1 absolute point to 99%, it would have taken 50% of its potential market, which would be exceptional!
Likewise, with initially 30.3% of the market, iPhone’s POTENTIAL market is the other 69.7%. It decreased this by 2.5 absolute points, which is a 3.5% decrease is its potential market (2.5 / 69.7 x 100).
On the other hand, Android’s initial share at 5.3% leaves 94.7% of the market available (long way to go). This decreased by 0.9 absolute points, which represents just under a 1% decrease in its potential market.
I would say that iPhone is doing over 3.5 times better than Android at attacting new customers. How you like them apples?
In terms of absolute numbers Apple wins. However, the growth is in Android’s favor.
And if Android is the leader in a couple years it does not make the iPhone/Apple less. Remember Beta vs VHS?
This is the same mechanism that (and I only refer to this example because I have seen numbers related to it recently), made Mormonism have the same market share as Judiasm and Islam the same as Christianity. Both Mormonism and Islam started mush later and because of their higher growth rate shares almost the same market size. This illustration can be shown for products rather than religious groups so sorry for my laziness to research a more suitable subject. Please dont bash any groups. My point is numbers, growth, and statistics.
BTW, statistics dont lie, it’s man that lies.
Hey, EVERYBODY! Screw the above stats, or the massaging thereof.
Take a look at GOOG and AAPL! Give away all the free phones you want, just to pump yourself up a bit, Eric. Equity prices don’t lie, and right now GOOG still hasn’t returned to the 500’s . . . and AAPL is within spitting of its all-time high (before the Euro-crisis).
Five people in my house are holding their collective breath for the new iPhone 4.0 release next week, and their money is burning holes in pockets. Wanna check the Android/iPhone stats once again in about a month, Googfanboys?
@maclouie
Not so fast…you are referring to a relative increase. In that context, Android does currently have a higher growth rate than iPhone OS. That does not mean that the “Android base is growing faster than the iPhone base,” as you assert. The stated changes in the browser share percentages define the changes in user base.
Let’s say that you make $53,000 per year, and I make $303,000. You get a 17% raise to $62,010 (increase of $9010) while I receive only an 8% raise to $327,240 (increase of $24,320). Which side of the dollars (user browser share) example would you prefer?
Of course, if those growth rates were to hold steady, then Android would eventually pass the iPhone OS. But high early growth rates always decline over the longer term. The iPod, for example, enjoyed sales growth rates of several hundred percent for a while, but it slowed down rapidly as the sales volume increased to tens of millions.
You think May was something? Wait until June…
@KingMel
As I said, in absolute numbers Apple wins. In terms of success and growth, Android could be considered as doing just fine as opposed to the spin stated by the article.
With respect to your example about pay raise, I have and would always be happy (very happy) with a 17% increased regardless of the absolute numbers, else I would be an eternally unhappy person. People should look at percentages and not absolute numbers.
There is a chance that Apple’s 8% gain this month may turn into a 7% gain next month and Android’s 17% gain this month into a 25% gain next month. Time will tell. I suspect Apple’s steam may run out before Android’s.
BTW, what does iPhone 4 bring to the market that Android Incredible or Sprint Envoy doesn’t already? Sometimes I think this looks like a repeat of Windows vs Mac but this time it is Android vs iPhone. Open vs Closed.
You should be able to tell which side i am rooting for by my handle.