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Smartphone overtakes PC as primary internet device in China
The Chinese government has issued a study revealing that the smartphone has overtaken the PC as the most popular device to surf the internet with. China's Internet Network Information Center revealed that 538 million people -- around 40 percent of the country have internet access. It recorded 388 million instances of surfing from a mobile handset, compared to the 380 recorded from PCs. Microblogs are also popular, with around 43.8 percent of phone users documenting the minutiae of their lives on Weibos like Sina and Tencent -- which reminds us, we need to tweet about what we're having for dinner.
ComScore report finds 42 percent of US mobile users have smartphones, Android at nearly 50 percent
ComScore released its annual Digital Future in Focus report earlier this month, offering new findings on things like email and web use, and it's now out with its latest Mobile Future in Focus report, which provides a year-end wrap of mobile device use both in the US and around the world. Not surprisingly, that year was marked by the continued growth of the smartphone, with the adoption rate among US mobile users jumping from 27 percent in 2010 to just under 42 percent in 2011 (similar growth was found elsewhere, with it cracking the 50 percent mark in a few countries). Among those, Android proved to be the most popular platform with a 47.3 percent market share, followed by iOS at 30 percent and RIM at 16 percent (exactly half of what it was in 2010, with the majority of that lost share moving to Android). Incidentally, Canada was the sole country where RIM retained a lead, but just barely; it accounts for 32.6 percent of the smartphone market in the country, followed closely by iOS at 31.2 percent and Android at 27.8 percent.Breaking things down further, while Android had the largest market share among smartphones, Apple had the three biggest selling phones in the US for the year with the iPhone 4, 3GS and 4S; the BlackBerry Curve 8530 snagged the fourth spot and the HTC EVO 4G took fifth. Of course, ComScore also took a look at tablets, and found that close to 15 percent of all US mobile users owned a tablet in addition to a phone, with the iPad of course accounting for an overwhelming majority of those. Notably, it also estimates that iPads account for over half of all iOS traffic, which helped boost iOS' overall share of mobile device traffic to a whopping 90.4 percent, although it notes it expect that to decline somewhat in 2012 as devices like the Kindle Fire peck away at the iPad's dominant market share. The full report can be found at the source link below.
Comscore: Android's UK market share explodes as Apple overtakes Symbian
Look at the chart above and you'll see two things happening. First, Apple has overtaken Symbian to become the top smartphone platform in the UK (with a 27 percent market share). And secondly, Android has grown 634 percent year-over-year to shoot into second place, with less than half a percentage point keeping it from the top spot (other reports already place it ahead). As you might expect, much of that growth isn't coming from folks switching from one smartphone to the other, but from new smartphone users -- Comscore found that 42 percent of all mobile users in the UK used a smartphone in May of this year, compared to just 27 percent a year ago. Of course, that also means that 58 percent of UK cellphone users are still potential smartphone users (to say nothing of those that still don't have a cellphone at all), so there's certainly still plenty up for grabs for all involved.
