Android now tops Apple in web traffic, too
The operating system Android scored a point recently in its ongoing war with Apple. According to the latest data – for the first time ever – the web traffic generated from Android smartphones and tablets was greater than that of Apple’s mobile devices.
The news wasn’t entirely a surprise. For some time now, sales of Android smartphones and tablets worldwide have been beating Apple. But Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has waved off any concern by saying Apple dominates when it comes to online traffic. Then he’d ask, where are all those Androids anyway?
“They must be in warehouses, or on store shelves, or maybe in somebody’s bottom drawer,” Cook would quip.
Cook will have to retire that joke with the news that Android now beats Apple’s mobile devices in web traffic. Tuong Nguyen is an analyst at Gartner and he doesn’t think Apple users will just switch to Android.
“When you talk about the iOS crowd, they tend to be a more self-selecting crowd,” he said. “Users who have more income or are more engaged with their technology and devices.”
Pai-Ling Yin is the co-founder of the Mobile Innovation Group at Stanford. She says the real turning point will be when greater Android web use turns into more money.
“Just because they’re using it more doesn’t mean you can get them to pay you more,” says Yin.
She says Apple users still buy more apps and goods online and so, from a business perspective, can be seen as more valuable.
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