iPhone Browser - Google and others see a surge

[jbinbpt]

From the New York Times [nytimes.com].

Apparently the iPhone is so much easier than other mobile web devices it is the number one mobile browser querying Google, yet only has 2% share of the smartphone market.

[sgietz]

< moved fromm another location >

Google has seen a surge of iPhone users accessing their services. I suppose the future is clear.
[news.com...]

[edited by: tedster at 8:37 pm (utc) on Jan. 14, 2008]

[Dogza]

I bought myself an Ipod Touch for Christmas (same browser as the Iphone) and yes, Google's mobile home page is very nice and easy to use. It's also very fast.

When you go to Google.com on the Ipod, it immediately forwards you to Google.com/m, so that everything fits nicely on the screen.

This "Ipod" is more useful than any PDA I've ever owned. I love it. It will be even better when the development kit comes out next month.

[digitalghost]

The cross-over only lasted a few days or so, but it shows the impact the iPhone is having on the telecommunications industry and provides a glimpse into its future market potential for the Web.

Hardly a surge, and certainly not sustained.

>>shows the impact the iPhone is having

Impact for a few days?

>>The iPhone revolutionized the industry

Revolutionized the industry? That article reads like a press release for Goople.

[conor]

Having also bought an Iphone, I must admit that Google is probably the site I most use on the device. Google Maps is a preinstalled book mark, linked from the main navigation screen so that could account for some of the stats as I think one of the first things I did with my iphone was play with Google maps.

[Angelis]

Really good at home on the wireless as well, just as fast as the PC downstairs. Best thing I ever bought to be honest despite the price.

[slef]

So the iPhone is number one at Google. That may tell us more about Google's relative failure at getting its search onto other mobile networks/phones (a motive for Android?) rather than telling us anything useful about the iPhone.

In the UK, O2 (the iPhone's locked network) and Orange are vague, but 3 and T-mobile have Yahoo's Y!search as default and Vodafone has Microsoft's Live IIRC. On 3, you have to make an extra click past the Y!search box (and wait for an extra download) to use Google and I'd expect it to be similar on other networks.

[dudester]

don't ever say "surge" again. the most overused word of the last 6 months.

[maximillianos]

Anyone get the new iPhone OS update yet? I just loaded mine tonight. Some pretty cool enhancements. You can now get traffic on Google Maps, which is sweet. And you can customize your home screen now, and even have more than one home screen. I think they are gearing up for the opening of the phone to 3rd party developers next month. Now we'll have more real estate to create new custom app icons.

Regarding the iPhone Safari browser... hands down the best phone/PDA web browser out there. I use it at home instead of my computer by preference... it is just more fun to browse on my iPhone... and the Google integration is awesome. I can access my Adwords, Adsense, Google Docs, Analytics... you name it... they all work.

[briggidere]

I have the Itouch and a smartphone but I'd always use the Itouch over the smartphone for browsing. The big screen also help a lot

[gibbergibber]

I'm sorry but this "browser is so good" story is a load of rubbish:

1) The main reason more people use the iPhone's browser IS BECAUSE IT'S FREE TO USE. It's not necessarily anything at all to do with the phone itself.

The vast majority of web-capable phone contracts charge a lot of money to use the web, sometimes costing hundreds a month. The compulsory iPhone contract gives all its users unlimited web use included in the monthly fee.

If you give people all-they-can-eat instead of the expensive small portions that most other contract holders have to suffer, of course iPhone owners are going to use the web more.

2) The iPhone's browser isn't new to phones, the same browser (under a different name) has been used in Nokia's S60 smartphones since 2006, which have something like a 50% share of the smartphone market. The reason Nokia can use the same browser as an Apple device is because neither company invented Safari/S60, it's actually a piece of open source software with some proprietary Apple or Nokia stuff stuck on top of it.

[ronmojohny]

The browser on the iphone is NOT free to use, you have to pay $19.95 per month for a data plan (which also includes the way cool visual voicemail feature) Anyone with an iphone can opt out of the data plan.