Study Finds iOS Reigns in Internet Usage (NewsFactor)

A new comScore report released Tuesday suggests that U.S. mobile consumers equipped with devices running Apple's iOS are consuming significantly more Internet content than users of mobile devices running Google's Android platform and other mobile operating systems.

Handsets running Google's Android platform collectively accounted for a leading 43.7 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market in August. However, comScore also reports that Apple's iOS platform accounted for 58.5 percent share of all non-computer Web traffic during the month vs. the 31.9 percent share held by Android.

One potential reason why is the increased availability of Wi-Fi hot spot connectivity, which AT&T and other U.S. carriers have been rolling out in congested metropolitan markets to relieve potential data bottlenecks. This is enabling a wider range of connected devices -- including Apple's iPad 2 and iPod Touch -- to function as roaming data-consumption platforms.

"As these devices gain adoption, we have also seen the rise of the 'digital omnivores' -- consumers who access content through several touch points during the course of their daily digital lives," said comScore Senior Vice President Mark Donovan. "To meet the needs of these consumers, advertisers and publishers must learn to navigate this new landscape so they develop cross-platform strategies to effectively engage their audiences."

Apple Leads the Pack

According to comScore, mobile devices accounted for 6.8 percent of all U.S.-based Web traffic in August -- with about 67 percent coming from smartphones and feature phones and the lion's share of the remainder coming from media tablets. Net Applications similarly pegs browser-based Web traffic from connected mobile devices at 6 percent.

Among mobile browsers, Apple's Safari currently leads the pack with a 55.6 percent share, followed by Opera Mini (18.9 percent), Android (16 percent) and Symbian (4.7 percent), according to Net Applications. What's more, the Web metric firm reports that Apple's iOS platform holds a market leading 54.7 percent market share followed by Java ME (18.5 percent), Android (16.3 percent) and Symbian (6.1 percent).

The mobile OS market share reported by Net Applications for Android is substantially lower than the 31.9 percent share presented in comScore's new report, which is based on a methodology that includes data gathered through surveys.

"Any survey methodology is limited by its scope and depth," said Net Applications Executive Vice President Vincent Vizzaccaro in an e-mail Tuesday. "I would argue that our methodology is far more sound than surveys, though."

Competing for Ad Impressions

Google's Android platform continues to outrank Apple's iOS with respect to the generation of mobile-ad impressions on Millennial Media's network. According to the mobile-advertising firm, Android held the top spot in August with a 54 percent share, while iOS was a distant second with a 28 percent share.

When the mobile advertising firm broke out ad impression shares for August based on mobile OS, connected devices were included for the first time. Still, even after including Apple's iPad in its mobile mix, Android continued to deliver more mobile ad impressions than iOS over the advertising firm's own network.

Additionally, iOS ad impression growth in August was relatively ?at in comparison with the prior month, Millennium Media reports. By contrast, Android impressions grew 48 percent on a sequential basis.

As Millennial states in its own monthly reports, however, the advertising firm's research is based solely on the number of apps and ad impressions occurring through its own network, which may well be skewed toward Android devices.

"I would find this information quite intriguing if I were considering advertising through their agency, but I don't think it's an accurate representation of the mobile space [overall]," Net Applications' Vizzaccaro said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111011/bs_nf/80551

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