Smartphone OS Market Share and Internet Use

Every now and then I stumble across a nice diagram showing the market shares of different smartphone operating systems such as Symbian, Android, iOS, and so on. Wikipedia, for example, has such a figure on this page. However, I think these are a bit misleading as they implicitly suggest, at least to me, that the percentage of each OS also equals the percentage of devices with a certain OS being used with a data subscription, i.e. to access services on the Internet.

While this might be true for most iOS and Android devices, as they have specifically been built and bought for this purpose, other operating systems like RIMs operating system for the Blackberry and Symbian are bought by many people without having Internet services in mind. So I highly doubt that the market leadership of Symbian, even though I personally prefer it over the other OSes, translates into an equal device market share that is actually used with a data subscription. Maybe this would be a much more relevant statistic to come up with?

And one more thought on the topic: Concerning Android, I also see it on devices now being bought by people for other reasons than using Internet based services. Take the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini for example. So maybe in a couple of quarters, Symbian won't be alone with a high percentage of devices not being used with a data option.

Comments

[David Boettger]

Does anyone buy a BlackBerry without internet services in mind?

[mobilesociety]

Hi David,

in some countries, one can buy a BB without an Internet access subscription, mainly for SMS. And judging from whom has a BB today I bet quite some are taking advantage of that.

Kind regards,
Martin

[D. Lean]

Iam looking to develop a communication app that can communicate with each others OS. I trying to find out which are the best OS to target. The app would work best with touchscreen function.Iam pretty green to this area. Would like to hear your expertise on this

[Trading Forex]

I think it is safe to say that IPhone took over the market, and BB is stalling behind. Though I am personally very fond of BB :)