In Defense of BlackBerry…
Over the past several years, the public mobile metrics reports by AdMob (a mobile advertising network that is in the process of being acquired by Google) have been instrumental in proving the relevance of the mobile web. AdMob’s March 2010 Mobile Metrics[1] report illustrates the rise of Android OS[2], a mobile operating system open sourced by their soon to be parent company, Google. According to the report, mobile web usage of the Android OS now eclipses usage of iPhone OS in the US. While we cannot confirm this, the rise of Android OS can be supported by our own data and by the mere fact that in the first 4 months of 2010 alone, 20 new Android OS Experience Phones[3] entered the market worldwide.
PercentMobile sees US mobile Web usage very differently from Admob.
In the March 2010 AdMob Report, they state that the BlackBerry RIM OS[4] has a mobile web usage share in the US of a mere 4%. This is in a country where RIM leads in total smartphone subscribers[5], has a long standing history in the corporate world, and where its president was almost inseparable from his BlackBerry during the election media blitz. At PercentMobile, our numbers state that RIM OS represents 22% of US mobile web usage, composed of Verizon customers with a 44% share and Sprint PCS, T-Mobile and ATT with shares from 18% to 14%.
How Can This Be Explained?
There are multiple factors that can influence the numbers like the entropy of site demographics used for the analysis.
One of the most outstanding factors is that BlackBerry Internet traffic is routed through RIM’s proxy servers in Canada. AdMob mistakenly identifies this mobile web traffic as originating in Canada rather than the US. This contributes to a significant undercount of RIM OS share estimates in the US market.
Another example of the same type of misidentification occurred when we recently tried to log into Facebook from a new T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold and got a security warning that we were logging in from an unknown location and therefore could not be granted access. The next morning, we got a message from Facebook stating that somebody from Canada had tried to log into the account while we were in NYC.
In order to identify the source of a RIM OS request, a mere lookup of IP address of the request is insufficient. It is necessary to look beyond the RIM proxy in order to determine the true source network operator.
At PercentMobile, our mobile-specific business rules are designed to present you with the actual source networks of your visitors rather than the locations of service proxies such as RIM, Novarra, and Opera.
Our Findings
We come to the conclusion that iPhone OS leads mobile web usage in the USA with 48% followed by RIM OS with 22% and Android OS around 5%. We feel that it is imperative that analytics reports are as accurate as possible, and question why AdMob has not corrected their underexposure of RIM OS in the US - a terrific operating system with a large user base and significant share of the mobile Web ecosystem.
References
- http://metrics.admob.com/2010/04/march-2010-mobile-metrics-report/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_operating_system
- http://analytics.percentmobile.com/public/the_rise_of_the_experience_phone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_In_Motion
- http://metrics.admob.com/2010/04/45-million-us-smartphone-users-comscore/
Andrea Trasatti at WordCamp Ireland With Useful Mobile Stats for Bloggers
Mobile for Bloggers
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5% is the average Percent Mobile audience of a Blog
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30% of mobile traffic to blogs is via Wifi
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30% of Mobile Web usage for blogs comes from non-phones
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(i.e. the iPod touch, PSP, Archos, etc - expect iPads soon!)
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50% of mobile devices visiting blogs are smart phones
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90% of referral traffic to blogs comes from search engines
(Source: PercentMobile, March 2010)
WordPress on Mobile at WordCamp Ireland, Andrea Trasatti
This weekend I traveled to the beautiful Kilkenny to talk with developers and designers about mobile. Of course mobile is my bread and butter, but I thought it would be a good challenge to talk about it to people that have never worked on it or maybe still see it as a niche and something that is not SO interesting.
It took me quite a bit of time to collect all the information I needed and I wanted to be sure I was prepared to the questions that would come up. The event was about blogging and WordPress, so I thought some metrics about mobile in general and then some specific about blogs would help (thank you to PercentMobile!) me set the stage and then I dived into WordPress and plugins. In a nutshell there are a number of good plugins to create basic mobile blogs, but there is still way too little good design and there is a lot of space for innovation. Check out my presentation embedded here or on slideshare and let me know what you think.
View more presentations from Andrea Trasatti.
Don’t forget to check out WordPress Mobile Pack.
At PercentMobile We Compare Apples to Apples Like No Other Mobile Analytics Service
At PercentMobile we care about details.
We recently developed a unique approach that segments Apple iPhone Users into 3GS and 2G/3G Models, rather then into Apple iPhone OS versions that run across multiple models. We hope you find this attention to detail useful.
Meanwhile, here are some usage numbers of selected countries, compare your data against the usage numbers of selected countries below. You may find that your users represent the general trend or are very different.
% iPhone Users in Various Countries Using 3GS
- 60% of iPhone Users in Australia are 3GS
- 51% of iPhone Users in Japan are 3GS
- 48% of iPhone Users in France are 3GS
- 44% of iPhone Users in UK are 3GS
- 43% of iPhone Users in Germany are 3GS
- 41% of iPhone Users in Canada are 3GS
- 37% of iPhone Users in USA are 3GS
- 33% of iPhone Users in Brazil are 3GS
“Get a sweet free mobile analytics tool for your website - Percent Mobile. (@avinashkaushik)”
Analytics Evangelist - Google
Author - Web Analytics 2.0 & Web Analytics: An Hour A Day
Co-Founder - Market Motive Inc.
Want to know more about Avinash’s new book, Web Analytics 2.0?
He’s written a short overview of the book in this blog post.
You can purchase the book here.
Avinash will donate 100% of the proceeds to two charities,
the The Smile Train and Ekal Vidyalaya.
PercentMobile Takes Home the GOLD for Early Stage Innovation at the Mobile Premier Awards
600 entries to 50 nominees to 20 finalists to 1.
PercentMobile won GOLD in the category of Early Stage Innovation at the Mobile Premier Awards in Barcelona.
The Mobile Premier Awards event took place on February 15 in an unusual cold and rainy Barcelona. With over 500 attendees, 11 awards and 26 startup presentations it is was once again the great showcase of mobile innovation.
Representing PercentMobile on stage was the ever affable Alexis who won over the hearts and minds of the audience. All of us here at PercentMobile are 100% stoked*.
About the Mobile Premier Awards
The Mobile Premier Awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress and are organized by dotopen in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry including MobileMonday, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), MEX, MobileActive.org, Women 2.0 and the Women in Mobile Data Association.
*stoked. “stoked” - adjective - to be “stoked” is to be completely and intensely enthusiastic, exhilirated, or excited about something. those who are stoked all of the time know this; being stoked is the epitome of all being. when one is stoked, there is no limit to what one can do.
Analytics from a Really Smart Guy
Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0 is one of those rare people who can take a somewhat dry and mathlike subject of web analytics and make it sound easy and even fun. I got to spend a few minutes with Avinash for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast for some tips about this important, but often overlooked topic. - John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing
Catch the 3 minute segment on mobile analytics starting at 16:37. Thanks for the mention @avinashkaushik.
Mobile Analytics by PercentMobile Named Finalist in the Mobile Premier Awards in Innovation
PercentMobile Named Finalist for ‘Best in Mobile Startup Innovation’ Category of Mobile Premier Awards at MWC
Today the Mobile Premier Awards announced the 20 finalists to the Mobile Premier Awards in Innovation: The best grassroots startup innovation chosen by their peers in partnership with MobileMonday, the global community of mobile professionals.
The finalists were chosen by an international jury of the most recognized mobile industry experts who will pitch their idea, application or project at the Mobile Premier Awards event that takes place in Barcelona, at the Petit Palau of Palau de la Musica on February 15, 2010 in front of investors, operators, media companies, peer entrepreneurs, and press and influential bloggers.
The Mobile Premier Awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress on February 15, 2010 in Barcelona and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry including MobileMonday, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), MEX, MobileActive.org, Women 2.0 and the Women in Mobile Data Association.
