iPad Web Usage More Like PC Than Smartphone
By Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker updated her “Internet Trends for 2010“, during this year’s CM Summit in New York, and as usual it was packed with some great statistics. Meeker’s main message was the unprecedented growth of mobile Internet usage and how Apple is helping to define it.
The US is currently the leader in mobile usage, taking the lead from Japan, with the number of US mobile web and app users doubling within the past year. Meeker estimates that in 2011, smartphone sales will exceed feature phone for the first time in the US and points to an inflection point for 3G and mobile Internet usage.
Apple has the largest mobile app base, with roughly 86 million iPhone and iPod Touch users, and 10 times the number of app downloads compared to their closet rival. The number of apps available for the iPad already exceeds the number available in the Palm, RIM and Nokia app stores. The iPad took only 28 days to reach one million units sold which is exceeded only by Nintendo’s Wii and DS gaming platforms.
Steve Jobs positioned iPad as a third class of device that fits between a laptop and a smartphone, and based on Meeker’s data, this seems to be the case. Meeker looked at Internet usage across a range of smartphone and PC based devices and found that Internet usage on the iPad sits distinctly in the middle of the two groups.
