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After part 1, here is part 2 of the quarterly mobile (and sometimes desktop) browser stats for the twelve countries I’ve been following since Q4 2010. As always, the stats are according to StatCounter.
Your donation for keeping this series up and running would be much appreciated.
The Dutch mobile browser market is becoming more of a pure Safari/Android race, with Safari still slightly in the lead, but the difference becoming less and less meaningful. Also, IE appears on the radar.
The Dutch market as a whole is still growing tremendously, from 4% in December to 6% now. It clearly hasn’t reached its plateau yet.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safari | 46% | -1 | 47% | +1 | 46% |
| Android | 44% | +2 | 42% | +1 | 41% |
| BlackBerry | 4% | 0 | 4% | -1 | 5% |
| Opera | 2% | 0 | 2% | -1 | 3% |
| Nokia | 2% | 0 | 2% | -1 | 3% |
| IE | 1% | 0 | 1% | +1 | 0 |
| Other | 1% | -1 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Volatility | 2% | 3% | |||
| Mobile | 6% | +1 | 5% | +1 | 4% |
The Mexican market seems to have reached a plateau of 5%. Back last year there was a temporary phase of tremendous growth because a hack was discovered that allowed Opera Mini users to get free mobile internet on the T3LC3L network. As a result, Opera use and mobile use in general went through the roof. Predictably, the operator was less than amused and closed the gap in May.
Since then Opera dropped to tbe benefit of Safari and Android, but that’s changed in Q2: Opera is on the rise again, although it mainly takes away market share from Nokia and BlackBerry.
The Mexican mobile market is now a three-way race between Safari, Android, and Opera, just as the global market is. Also, IE appears on the radar.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safari | 26% | -1 | 27% | +3 | 24% |
| Android | 26% | +2 | 24% | +5 | 19% |
| Opera | 25% | +5 | 20% | -2 | 22% |
| Nokia | 12% | -3 | 15% | -3 | 18% |
| BlackBerry | 5% | -2 | 7% | -1 | 8% |
| Sony PSP | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% |
| IE | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Obigo | 1% | -1 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| NetFront | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% |
| Sony Ericsson | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% |
| Other | 1% | -1 | 2% | -1 | 3% |
| Volatility | 8% | 8% | |||
| Mobile | 5% | 0 | 5% | 0 | 5% |
In China the battle of the proxy browsers shows a clear advantage to native son UC, while Android and Safari are on the rise in the non-proxy market. The big loser is Nokia, but unfortunately we don’t know if that means Nokia WebKit for Symbian, or the Nokia browsers for S40. In any case China is increasingly switching to smartphones, even if that only means cheap Androids.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC | 55% | +3 | 52% | -5 | 57% | Proxy browser |
| Android | 20% | +4 | 16% | +2 | 14% | |
| Safari | 16% | +2 | 14% | +2 | 12% | |
| Nokia | 4% | -10 | 14% | +2 | 12% | |
| Opera | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | |
| Samsung | 0 | -1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| Other | 3% | +2 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| Volatility | 11% | 6% | ||||
| Mobile | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
Nokia is also the big loser in Egypt, and here, too, we don’t know which OS is losing. In any case Android and Opera are the winners. That doesn’t particularly point to an increase in the number of smartphones, so I assume it’s the proxy browser Ovi that loses on the Nokia side, while Opera Mini gains on the Opera side.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 41% | +2 | 39% | -6 | 45% | |
| Nokia | 36% | -8 | 44% | +5 | 39% | |
| Android | 7% | +3 | 4% | +1 | 3% | |
| Safari | 5% | 0 | 5% | 0 | 5% | |
| UC | 2% | +1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| BlackBerry | 2% | +1 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| Dolfin | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| NetFront | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| Jasmine | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| Other | 4% | +1 | 3% | +1 | 2% | |
| Volatility | 8% | 7% | ||||
| Mobile | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
Brazil remains a confusing mobile market, although it could be the confusion is diminishing slightly. Here, too, Opera wins to Nokia’s detriment, while Android and Safari are on the rise, pushing other browsers such as Obigo and NetFront out of the market. Let’s wait another quarter before deciding that Brazil’s confusion is lessening, but it could be that that’s what’s going to happen.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 36% | +8 | 28% | +6 | 22% | |
| Android | 23% | +3 | 20% | +6 | 14% | |
| Nokia | 18% | -7 | 25% | -5 | 30% | |
| Safari | 9% | +2 | 7% | +1 | 6% | |
| Obigo | 4% | -3 | 7% | -3 | 10% | |
| NetFront | 3% | -2 | 5% | -1 | 6% | |
| Jasmine | 2% | -1 | 3% | -1 | 4% | |
| Dolfin | 1% | -1 | 2% | +1 | 1% | |
| UC | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Samsung | 1% | 0 | 1% | -1 | 2% | |
| BlackBerry | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| IE | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sony Ericsson | 0 | -1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 3% | |
| Volatility | 15% | 14% | ||||
| Mobile | 3% | -1 | 4% | 0 | 4% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
In contrast, very little happens in Poland. Android saw lots of growth in Q1, but not so much in Q2, with again Nokia losing.
| Browser | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opera | 54% | 0 | 54% | +1 | 53% | |
| Android | 27% | +1 | 26% | +5 | 21% | |
| Safari | 6% | 0 | 6% | 0 | 6% | |
| Nokia | 5% | -2 | 7% | -2 | 9% | |
| Dolfin | 4% | +1 | 3% | -1 | 4% | |
| NetFront | 1% | -1 | 2% | -1 | 3% | |
| IE | 1% | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Other | 2% | 0 | 2% | -2 | 4% | |
| Volatility | 3% | 6% | ||||
| Mobile | 3% | 0 | 3% | +1 | 2% | Mobile browsing as percentage of all browsing |
The anemic growth of the mobile browser market as a whole during the last quarter made me wonder if we’ve reached some kind of plateau.
Eventually, of course, mobile browsing is going to hit its maximum. It’s clear that desktop is becoming less important, but it’s also clear that it’s not going to disappear. Especially for professionals such as ourselves, desktop and laptop computers will remain the tools of choice, which means they’ll also continue to be used for browsing.
What nobody knows is exactly when mobile will stop growing. Judging by Q2 only that moment seems to have come now, but my instinct screams it’s far too early. Still, last quarter saw the least positive and the most negative growth since I started keeping track of these numbers, and the difference with the second-worst quarter, Q1 of last year, isn’t especially small.
In any case, I assume that mobile growth will recommence in Q3, though maybe at less of a clip than previously. We’ll have to see how these numbers evolve.
Below you find an overview of the growth rates of the twelve mobile markets. We see that several individual countries reached a plateau earlier, such as Indonesia in Q1-3 2011 and the UK from Q2-Q4 2011, but all continued growing afterwards. That’s why I assume this stalling is something temporary.
We’ll see next quarter.
| Country | Q2 2012 | ch | Q1 2012 | ch | Q4 2011 | ch | Q3 2011 | ch | Q2 2011 | ch | Q1 2011 | ch | Q4 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 58% | -2 | 60% | +6 | 54% | +8 | 46% | +7 | 39% | +8 | 31% | +4 | 27% |
| India | 47% | +7 | 40% | +2 | 38% | +5 | 33% | +6 | 27% | +7 | 20% | +4 | 16% |
| Indonesia | 20% | 0 | 20% | +4 | 16% | +5 | 11% | -1 | 12% | +1 | 11% | -2 | 13% |
| US | 9% | 0 | 9% | +1 | 8% | 0 | 8% | 0 | 8% | +2 | 6% | 0 | 6% |
| UK | 11% | +1 | 10% | +2 | 8% | 0 | 8% | +1 | 7% | +1 | 6% | +1 | 5% |
| South Korea | 21% | -2 | 23% | +3 | 20% | +4 | 16% | +6 | 10% | +5 | 5% | +1 | 4% |
| China | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | +1 | 3% | +1 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Egypt | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | +2 | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Brazil | 3% | -1 | 4% | 0 | 4% | 0 | 4% | +1 | 3% | +1 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Mexico | 5% | 0 | 5% | 0 | 5% | -1 | 6% | 0 | 6% | +3 | 3% | +1 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 6% | +1 | 5% | +1 | 4% | 0 | 4% | +1 | 3% | +1 | 2% | 0 | 2% |
| Poland | 3% | 0 | 3% | +1 | 2% | +1 | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% | 0 | 1% |
| Positive | 9 | 20 | 25 | 23 | 30 | 11 | |||||||
| Negative | -5 | 0 | -1 | -1 | 0 | -2 |
This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer.
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