iOS, Apple's iPad/iPhone operating system, has increased its already massive lead over Google Android in terms of Web browsing traffic.
Analyst firm Piper Jaffray reports that iOS's share of web browsing traffic continues to increase, edging up from 61 percent at the end of June to 63 percent on 19th July; Android stepped almost flat on 28 percent, while the alternatives, such as Windows, dropped from 11 percent to 8 percent of all mobile web browsing traffic.
Apple's iPhone and iPad are hugely successful product lines, but in sheer number of units shipped, Google Android devices outnumber their Apple rivals. This data, then, illustrates what many have long suspected: that Apple users are more wedded to their devices, engaging with them actively more often and (of course) more inclined to spend money on apps and games.
There are further reasons why iOS users may be more inclined to venture online than their Android counterparts. One is security: as we argue elsewhere, the range of malware threats facing iOS users is tiny, and security threats on the iPhone are largely confined to human error.
An F-Secure report in May noted that more than 90 percent of all mobile malware is written for the Android platform, while the remainder is aimed at the Symbian software found on older Nokia phones. The 'closed' platforms - Apple iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry - simply don't have malware written for them.
How will Apple's mobile web traffic market share fare with the launch of iOS 7, the next version of the iPhone/iPad platform, in autumn? Apple is redesigning the mobile version of its Safari web browser, and if the revamp is a hit, iPhone and iPad users are going to be happier than ever to access the web on the go.
Based on the current beta version of iOS 7, Safari will gain a smart search field, shared links, an increased number of browser tabs and a clearer, more pruned-back interface.
