It should come as no surprise that web usage from Palm devices is up, as the Pre us a much more competent web device than older Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. The surprise, however, is that web use from Palm owners in the US was up in September from August by 22%. The numbers come from a monthly report by AdMob, which shows that Palm’s share of mobile internet traffic jumped from 4.1% in August to 5.0% in September, even while global smartphone traffic dropped approximately 3%. Worldwide, Palm’s share of mobile traffic increased from 1.9% to 2.4%.
The biggest draw of mobile web traffic remains the iPhone OS (iPhone and iPod Touch), accounting for 28.1% of US traffic, though that is a drop of 5% share from August. September’s biggest gains came from HTC, with the manufacturer gaining 1.9% more of the mobile web market and the #3 spot in top handsets with the Dream (otherwise known as the G1 on T-Mobile) at 5.5%. The Pre is placed 5th with 4.1% of US traffic, and increase 24% over August.
Palm devices account for more than 40% of the traffic on Sprint’s network, presumably drive almost entirely by the Pre. A sliver of the traffic on both AT&T and Verizon also comes from Palm devices, though it is a barely noticeable in comparison to the dominant devices on each network (Apple on AT&T, HTC on T-Mobile, and Research in Motion on Verizon). The widely varying numbers between the US carriers demonstrate the effects of exclusivity agreements, while AdMob’s stats for India, Indonesia, the Phillipines, and South Africa show much less variation (and much more Nokia).
There are some caveats to note from AdMob’s statistics. First and foremost is that their numbers are derived from web ad requests (i.e. a user loading a page with an AdMob-sourced advertisement on it). AdMob also is an ad provider and thus may not provide a balanced view of the smartphone space - until recently AdMob focused very heavily on advertising targeted at iPhone users and the websites they frequent. With more manufacturers releasing devices capable of full web browsing the Apple-bias in the numbers may be blunted. Either way, skewed numbers or not, they still show Palm making gains months after the Pre’s launch.
Thanks to Miles for the tip!
Comments
Correction- the Dream is the T-Mobile G1, while the HTC Magic is the MyTouch 3g with Google.
this doesn't surprise me, honestly. on the iphone, every site has an app, so you don't need to go to the web to do most things.
on webOS, there's not nearly the app-interaction with websites as there is on other platforms. I bet if there was a facebook app alone, web browser use on the Pre would plummet.
What about Friends Flow?
How many Admob powered WebOS applications are out there? All i know is Bubbles. Are there more?
I am asking because i think those data is generated by the applications of the Admob-Mobile-Ad network.
Will using the iPhone spoof patch on the Pre effect this statistic?
that could be possible, but it would still appear as an iphone on Sprint, which would probably disqualify it.
Perhaps it is just that a rising tide raises all ships.
"even while global smartphone traffic dropped approximately 3%"
I wouldn't say that's a rising tide.
Is this good news or what for Pre?
seems like pretty good news. Even with overall smartphone traffic down, Pre traffic went way up. This either means that Pre owners are browsing more or there are more Pre owners or (most likely) a little of both. It's a good trend in any case.
As somone who largely reads news, blogs and sports on the web, the Pre is very convenient for me.
I'd say 30% of my total web time since getting the Pre is on the Pre. The 50% is on my netbook, and occasionally I get a proper size screen and view it on my desktop about 20% of the time.
So I'd guess it's a little bit more pre users and a little bit more that Pre users use the web on the phone more.
Well, this report is only an accurate indication of how many ads AdMob serves, and is NOT a good proxy for overall mobile web usage. The reason is, they are counting ad views no matter where they happen. Many games and apps on the iPhone (and the Pre, and maybe Android) show ads from the AdMob network. So the reason for this jump might have to do with more AdMob-enabled apps being released for the Pre.
It's an interesting trend, but the report DOES NOT show that Palm web use was up by 20% last month. The report DOES NOT show that Palm's share of mobile internet traffic is 5.0%. All it shows is that 5.0% of the ads displayed by AdMob on mobile websites and AdMob-enabled apps occurred on Palm devices.
This is an easy thing to miss, since AdMob is careful to word their press releases to deceive the press. You may want to correct the headline and be on the watch for self-serving press releases from AdMob.
I've been on this website for maybe 2 months. I just joined the community, but I don't have a pre (yet). But even though I dont have a pre, whenever I go to android central and I see all hype the droid is getting, I get really irritated at palm and/ or sprint for not advertising the pre as much as verizon is with the droid. The pre obviously has a better OS and sleeker design. The only thing holding me back from getting the pre is the network it's on, but also the key features that should be on the phone without haveing to patch the phone; video, app storage, APPS, reliable music sync software, usable calendar. Please upgrade the pre when it goes to Verizon. With these features and an upgrade of GB, the PRE will kill the iphone. I don't think Verizon, if they decide they truly will carry the pre, will market the phone as they did with the droid if it's the same phone sprint carries. Thanks for hearing me vent.
"The pre obviously has a better OS and sleeker design."
that seems not so obvious to everyone...
I have a proposal.
How about someone make a list of URLs for AdMob sites and we bombard them for a month and see what happens to the AdMob stats :)
When I finally get my Pre next week, I shall single handedly raise Palm's stake by a full percent for November. Count on it!
are you trying to be funny or what? If you are? then I am LOL'
;-)
Definitely not an accurate count of usage. I'm one of the thousands who have my Pre set to show up as an iPhone so sites load better. The actual web-use of the WebOS is definitely higher than they are reporting because of all of us doing this to our phones.
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