67% Mobile Web traffic from iPhone, the new Computing Platform

3 Essential trends makeing iPhone the Computing Platform of the future:

1. The de facto mobile gateway to the Web.
Although the richest woman in the world wants it sometimes, Melinda Gates is not allowed to have an iPhone since iPods and iPhones are banned in the Gates family. However, that's not the case in millions of families around the world. According to Net Applications, iPhone accounted for 67% of the mobile web traffic in February 2009. Today (3/4/2009), China Unicom says they are in talks to sell iPhone in China.

As to other "major" players... Java ME's (represents the stripped-down browsers on most regular phones) got 9%, while Windows Mobile, Google's Android, and Symbian each got about 6%. Palm was left with about 2%.


2. Mobile Video catching up with Internet Video? In a Nielsen report, the media consumptions from TV, Internet and Mobile Usage continue to increase. Most interestingly, Mobile video watchers are watching more videos comparing Internet video watchers. This amazing insight shows the portability power of mobile web for devices like iPhone. As even more main stream content becomes available (According to Video4Cell, CSB just announced Star Trek & C.S.I Episodes to iPhones on TV.com) even more people will rely on their iPhone for video and other content. This continues to pave the way for iPhone to be the dominating portable entertainment device and the computing platform which Microsoft, Google, Palm, Sony, and Nintendo have missed the boat... at least for this round.

3. Portable computing platform for lots of Applications. In addition to surfing the web with Safari and watching videos with Youtube, people are using the iPhone for other applications. In fact, Apple's says 500 million apps have been downloaded and counting. Based on one estimate, that's about 20 Apps downloads per iPhone user comparing to about an average of 5 Apps across all smart phones.

A survey of US smartphone users who installed applications on their devices in 2008, conducted by ABI Research in November, reveals that a surprising 17% spent upwards of $100. No wonder, a lot of people are building and marketing iPhone apps these days... watch out for one of ours, coming soon!

References:

• CBS Offers full length Star Trek & C.S.I Episodes to iPhones on TV.com.
• TV, Internet and Mobile Usage In U.S. Keeps Increasing, Says Nielsen.
• Five Apps Per iPhone?
  
• Buying Mobile Applications: 17% of US Smartphone Survey Respondents Spent More Than $100 Last Year.
• Report: iPhone takes 2/3 of mobile Web in February.
  
• Video Viewing Strong on All Screens.
  
• Banned In The Gates Household: iPhones and iPods.
• Apple: China Unicom Says In Talks To Sell iPhone. (3/4/2009)