Almost since its
release, the iPhone has been synonymous with the mobile Web because it made accessing the Internet via a handset a less painful experience. But Google's Android mobile operating system is making
steady inroads on the iPhone's dominance as an Internet phone.
Since last November, Android's share of mobile Web consumption in North America has gone from about 5% to 20% from January 2009
to May 2010 -- even as the iPhone operating system, now known as iOS, has dropped from about 75% to 59%, according to new data from online tracking firm Quantcast. The BlackBerry operating system
accounts for 10.4%, and all others combined, nearly 11%.
Android's ascent has been especially swift since the end of last year, when Verizon released the Motorola Droid. That phone's success
spurred the proliferation of other Android-based devices -- now totaling more than 60. That trend should continue with this month's launch of the Android-powered HTC Evo 4G from Sprint, following the
April debut of the HTC Incredible by Verizon.
Fueled by sales of the Droid and other Android models, Motorola phones account for 10% of mobile Web surfing, and HTC handsets, 9.2%.
Both the
Evo 4G and Incredible smartphones already account for 1% of all mobile Web use in the U.S., with the Evo hitting that level in its first week of release, according to Quantcast.
Android's rise
as a serious iPhone rival got the industry's attention when market research firm NPD Group reported that the share of Android-based device sales worldwide eclipsed that of the iPhone for the first
time in the first quarter, 28% to 21%. (The BlackBerry OS was tops, at 36%.)
The iPhone isn't the only device affected by Android's emergence. Through the first five months of 2010, Android's
share of mobile Web traffic has increased 12.2%, while the iPhone's has dropped 8.1%, BlackBerry, 1.2%, and that of all others, 2.9%.
But with Apple and Google now also competing directly in
mobile advertising, the stakes have gotten higher for both across all aspects of their mobile businesses. That's reflected in a provision in Apple's updated developers' license agreement that appears
to effectively block Google-owned mobile ad network AdMob from serving ads in iPhone and iPad applications.
The Federal Trade Commission will begin an antitrust investigation of Apple's business
practices in relation to the mobile software market, according to a Wall Street Journal report Saturday. Prior reports indicated that federal regulators were
looking into Apple's new developer rules in relation to the policy barring AdMob and other rivals from the iPhone as well as the company's ban of Adobe's Flash software from Apple devices.
The
FTC in May ended a six-month investigation of Google's $750 million acquisition of AdMob without taking any action against the Internet giant.