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It’s time for the quarterly mobile browser statistics from 12 selected countries according to StatCounter.
This post treats the first six countries; the second six will appear next week. Your donation for keeping this series up and running would be much appreciated.
As usual we’re going to treat the countries in order of mobile share of total website visits, and we start with an overview.
| Country | Mobile share | ch | Top browser | # | Vola |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 46% | +7 | Opera | 3 | 2% | |
| India | 33% | +6 | Opera | 6 | 11% | |
| South Korea | 16% | +6 | Android | 2 | 2% | |
| Indonesia | 11% | -1 | Opera | 5 | 20% | Opera wins, BlackBerry loses |
| US | 8% | 0 | Safari | 5 | 9% | BlackBerry loses |
| UK | 8% | +1 | BlackBerry | 5 | 3% | |
| Mexico | 6% | 0 | Opera | 7 | 11% | |
| Brazil | 4% | +1 | Nokia | 8 | 9% | |
| China | 4% | +1 | UCWeb | 5 | 10% | |
| Netherlands | 4% | +1 | Safari | 5 | 6% | |
| Egypt | 2% | 0 | Opera | 5 | 11% | |
| Poland | 1% | 0 | Opera | 6 | 4% |
Like last quarter, I have calculated generic browser stats (whether mobile or desktop) for all countries that have at least 20% mobile web usage. This quarter they are Nigeria and India. I expect South Korea to join them next quarter.
In Nigeria the mobile web continues to grow madly; now almost half of all hits come from mobile browsers, and I expect it to be more than half in Q4. Browser-wise Opera has ceased to grow, but it has little room for growth left.
| Browser | Q3 2010 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 90% | 0 | 90% | +5 | 85% | |
| Nokia | 6% | +1 | 5% | -1 | 6% | |
| Bolt | 2% | -1 | 3% | -3 | 6% | WebKit-based proxy browser |
| Other | 2% | 0 | 2% | -1 | 3% | |
| Volatility | 2% | 5% | ||||
| WebKit | 8% | 0 | 8% | -4 | 12% | Nokia, Bolt |
| Mobile | 46% | +7 | 39% | +8 | 31% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
Here are the Nigerian browser stats if we drop the difference between mobile and desktop browsers. Opera continues to win because of the growth of mobile as a whole. Firefox and especially IE lose because they don’t matter on mobile (yet).
| Browser | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 43% | +6 | 37% | +8 | 29% | 3% from desktop in Q1, 2% in Q2 and Q3 |
| Firefox | 24% | -2 | 26% | -4 | 30% | |
| IE | 19% | -4 | 23% | -5 | 28% | |
| Chrome | 7% | 0 | 7% | 0 | 7% | |
| Nokia | 3% | +1 | 2% | 0 | 2% | |
| Safari | 2% | +1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | Desktop |
| Bolt | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% | WebKit-based proxy browser |
| Other | 1% | -2 | 3% | +2 | 1% | |
| Volatility | 8% | 10% | ||||
| WebKit | 13% | +2 | 11% | -1 | 12% | Chrome, Safari, Nokia, Bolt |
India’s mobile web is growing as quickly as Nigeria’s, but is still only at a third of all website visits. Opera drops, Nokia (which I assume to mean the Ovi browser in this context) and NetFront grow. A whole slew of long-tail browsers also grow.
The only explanation I have for these figures is that Opera Mini is losing ground to the Ovi browser which comes pre-installed with new S40 phones. The surge in NetFront use can be explained if S40 in turn is losing ground to cheap Samsung (and Sony Ericsson?) phones.
But feel free to disregard this explanation; I have zero evidence.
| Browser | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 51% | -6 | 57% | -3 | 60% | |
| Nokia | 29% | +3 | 26% | 0 | 26% | |
| NetFront | 9% | +4 | 5% | -3 | 8% | |
| Dolfin | 2% | +1 | 1% | +1 | - | |
| Samsung | 2% | +1 | 1% | -2 | 3% | |
| Android | 2% | +1 | 1% | +1 | 0 | |
| Jasmine | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | - | |
| Obigo | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | - | |
| Bolt | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | WebKit-based proxy browser |
| Sony Ericsson | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | bla |
| Safari | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | |
| Other | 0 | -5 | 5% | +2 | 3% | |
| Volatility | 11% | 8% | ||||
| WebKit | 34% | +5 | 29% | 0 | 29% | Nokia, Android, Dolfin, Safari |
| Mobile | 33% | +6 | 27% | +7 | 20% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
If we combine all Indian browsers, desktop or mobile, Opera is still gaining ground because of the growth of mobile as a whole. It’s Nokia (Ovi?) that has won most during Q3, though, and Firefox and IE that lost most, just as in Nigeria. Chrome wins slightly because it grows strongly on the desktop.
| Browser | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | ch | Q4 2010 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | 22% | -2 | 24% | -2 | 26% | |
| Chrome | 21% | +1 | 20% | 0 | 20% | |
| IE | 21% | -5 | 26% | -4 | 30% | |
| Opera | 19% | +2 | 17% | +3 | 14% | 2% from desktop |
| Nokia | 10% | +3 | 7% | +2 | 5% | |
| NetFront | 3% | +2 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| Other | 4% | -1 | 5% | +3 | 1% | |
| Volatility | 8% | 8% | ||||
| WebKit | 31% | +3 | 28% | +2 | 26% | Chrome, Nokia |
South Korea makes another giant jump to a mobile market share of 16%, and passes Indonesia in the process. Meanwhile Android WebKit (i.e. the Samsung Galaxy) increases its share of the mobile market once again. Koreans are clearly enamoured of surfing the web on Android. Android WebKit’s growth is slackening — primarily because it doesn’t have much room for growth left.
| Browser | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 95% | +2 | 93% | +7 | 86% | |
| Safari | 4% | -2 | 6% | -6 | 12% | |
| Other | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| Volatility | 2% | 7% | ||||
| WebKit | 99% | 0 | 99% | +1 | 98% | Safari, Android |
| Mobile | 16% | +6 | 10% | +5 | 5% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
Indonesia continues to develop against worldwide trends. Its mobile browsing share again drops one point, just as in Q1. This is due either to a problem in StatCounter’s methodology (but what kind of problem?), or the Indonesian mobile market genuinely goes against all current trends (but why?).
Anyway, the biggest news for Q3 is that BlackBerry loses a lot of ground; mainly to Opera. BlackBerry users switching from the default browser to Opera Mini? Fake BlackBerrys originally counted as the real thing but now as something else? I don’t know.
The lack of information about the Indonesian market is getting annoying.
| Browser | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 60% | +11 | 49% | +1 | 48% | |
| Nokia | 17% | +3 | 14% | -1 | 15% | |
| BlackBerry | 10% | -18 | 28% | -1 | 29% | |
| Android | 6% | +3 | 3% | +3 | 0 | |
| NetFront | 4% | +1 | 3% | -1 | 4% | |
| Safari | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bolt | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | WebKit-based proxy browser |
| Dolfin | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Other | 0 | -2 | 2% | -2 | 4% | |
| Volatility | 20% | 5% | ||||
| WebKit | 26% | +8 | 18% | +3 | 15% | Nokia, Android, Bolt |
| Mobile | 11% | -1 | 12% | +1 | 11% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
In the US, too, BlackBerry loses ground, this time to Android and Safari. These two browsers are in a struggle for the first place, with Safari still staying narrowly ahead of its competitor in Q3. Q4 could be the first quarter where Android is ahead of Safari.
| Browser | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safari | 39% | +3 | 36% | -1 | 37% | |
| Android | 38% | +6 | 32% | +3 | 29% | |
| BlackBerry | 14% | -7 | 21% | -3 | 24% | |
| Nokia | 3% | -1 | 4% | +2 | 2% | |
| Opera | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | |
| NetFront | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| IE | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | |
| Sony PSP | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 | |
| Other | 1% | -1 | 2% | -2 | 4% | |
| Volatility | 9% | 8% | ||||
| WebKit | 81% | +7 | 74% | +5 | 69% | Safari, Nokia, Android, 10% of BlackBerry |
| Mobile | 8% | 0 | 8% | +2 | 6% |
In the UK BlackBerry retains its first place, though it and Safari lose points to Android. One wonders how long BlackBerry will keep this up, but so far there are no signs of its losing a dramatic amount of ground as in Indonesia or the US. The UK remains very loyal to BlackBerry.
| Browser | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | ch | Q4 2010 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BlackBerry | 38% | -1 | 39% | +2 | 37% | |
| Safari | 37% | -1 | 38% | -3 | 41% | |
| Android | 17% | +3 | 14% | +1 | 13% | |
| Opera | 3% | 0 | 3% | 0 | 3% | |
| Nokia | 2% | -1 | 3% | 0 | 3% | |
| NetFront | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| Other | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | |
| Volatility | 3% | 6% | ||||
| WebKit | 59% | 0 | 59% | +1 | 58% | Safari, Nokia, Android, 10% of BlackBerry |
| Mobile | 8% | +1 | 7% | +1 | 6% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
Next week we’ll look at the other six countries.
This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer.
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