iPhone 5 Web traffic already beats Samsung Galaxy S III

Written by

The Galaxy S III has been available in the U.S. for nearly four months, and posted impressive sales figures – even beating out domestic sales of the iPhone 4S in August 2012. However, only 18 days since the public release of the iPhone 5, the newest Apple device has overtaken the Galaxy S III in terms of Web traffic volume. Record-breaking sales numbers, along with new 4G browsing speeds which encourage data usage, are the most likely explanation for this tremendous growth. This latest shift in the mobile ecosystem is not welcome news for Samsung, which has positioned its device as a direct competitor to the iPhone 5.

It has to suck to think you’re doing so well only to be kicked in the ass by the iPhone 5.



  • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

    If web traffic the their measuring stick for “doing so well”, then maybe.

    Again, pick your stat to choose your winner. Never ending argument.

    • DaveChapin77

      Web traffic correlates to usage. Which correlates to consumption (apps, media, ads). Which correlates to all the reasons to have a ecosystem in the first place.

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        Hrmm…so based on ads being shown (not media or app usage mind you): “To quantify our latest study, we conducted a user agent analysis on millions of mobile ad impressions, spanning a 7-day time frame from October 3rd through October 9th, 2012.”

        I think not sir.

      • JohnDoey

        Web traffic correlates to computer-type usage. A user who bought a Samsung phone 5 years ago and goes into Verizon and gets a 2012 Samsung phone but then uses that 2012 phone just like their 2007 phone is not going to show up in Web usage stats, and that is most Samsung/Android users. Most do not even buy a data plan, they only have Internet when in Wi-Fi, assuming they have Wi-Fi at home or know how to login to it elsewhere.

        Android is not equal to iOS. Android is a traditional phone system, sold to carriers, baby Java applets, draws its interface on the CPU, not GPU. Not a PC class device. iPhone is a PC operating system with PC apps, PC display subsystem, audio subsystem, video subsystem. iPhone is a pocket Mac. People buy iPhones for the same reason as Macs: run high-quality, media-rich, native C/C++ apps. All iPhones have data plans and easy Wi-Fi login so they are online 24/7.

        It is a fiction made by phone carriers and Google that Android is the same kind of thing as iOS. That is just a coat of paint and some untruthful marketing. We see clearly in the usage that they are not the same thing. Android is a phone, iPhone is a PC.

    • gjgustav

      If you discount this stat, then you conclude that Galaxy S3 owners prefer not to use their web browser. Either way, looks bad.

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        Lol. Why? I use my browser all the time but rarely do I go places with ads.

        This is completely non-scientific and a weak feather to put in your hat, IMHO.

        • gjgustav

          I rarely go to places with ads too, and I use an iPhone, so I guess that my case cancels out yours. ;-)

          But seriously, yes, I missed your point that on average Galaxy S3 owners could visit places with these ads less often than iPhone owners, yet Galaxy S3 owners visit other sites more. But why do you think that is true?

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            lol. I know iPhone users that rarely visit sites (I was one of them before switching).

            I have no clue why it would be less. Anything I’d offer would all be speculation. A different type of people (technical vs non-technical)? Different age groups? Apps vs browser users?

            I get all of my news from RSS feeds so site ads aren’t registered. Many young folks I know only go to Facebook only (through the app mostly).

            Again, no clue. Why do you think it is the case?

          • JohnDoey

            Web browsing is one of the main reasons people buy iPhones. iPhone has the only mobile browser that is not a pain in the ass to use. It is also the only mobile browser that Web developers specifically created HTML5 alternatives to Flash for. iPhone has always lead Android phones in Web usage by a really, really long shot.

            If you are going to respond to a survey of iPhone and Android users by disagreeing with it, then please link to some data that supports your side, rather than pulling it out of your Android’s ass.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            Wow man. I haven’t seen such comment fodder in a long while.

            I think web browsing is a great feature of modern smartphones but I think apps override any other feature of smartphones. I could be wrong here…I just don’t give browsing that much credence for purchase decisions.

            Now to the fodder. Chrome is already stealing from Safari on iOS (I know many who tuck Safari in an Apple folder and never look back at it; http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-research/2012/07/18/chrome-grabs-15-ios-browser-market-safari-still-dominates, soon after launch it grabbed 1.5%). That same Chrome, but considerably better, is on Android and is the #1 desktop browser. Also understand Chrome is WebKit. You know what else is WebKit? Safari.

            Back in the “keep Flash alive” days, yes…people targeted Safari. Now we developers target smartphones, mostly because a lot of the mobile market bent and followed Apple’s direction (H.264 adoption, CSS3, etc).

            You ask for data but provide none yourself. ;-) I don’t need to provide any data as a prerequisite to disagree though.

        • http://twitter.com/dmkraig Donald Michael Kraig

          Uh, no. Their report is based on cumulative data which shows trends and through research can be generalized and interpreted as valid. What you describe about yourself is called “anecdotal” and is basically meaningless. It would be like saying that because you think Justin Bieber sucks, all those sales of his songs are irrelevant.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            LMBO. Ok.

            Enjoy your cake. ;-)

          • Randomguy

            You are so high and mighty with your comments here. You act as if someone has an opinion different than yours, they are wrong. I see it over and over here on the loop. How about a little humility? How about not using yourself as the measuring stick for the general public? You are a nerd and the way you use and interact with devices is far different than the average consumer.

            Don’t you find it curious that a device with far fewer sales than the GS3 has more web traffic? How is that possible? I think it shows that thes android users aren’t relying on their phones as much as iOS users and are continuing to use their PCs for web usage.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            Not by any means. I have a different opinion and express it (that’s the point of discussing here, right?).

            Yes, I use my device considerably different (edit: said ‘better’ but that was a missed reword while editing comment). This isn’t about my usage but what I have seen from other non-nerds I’ve observed (iPhone and otherwise).

            Yes, it is possible Android users stick to their PCs for usage. If they do, ok. What’s wrong with that?

            I find the findings interesting but not a reason to consider the S3 “kicked in the ***” by the iPhone 5. There are a lot of other reasons that could be cited for that but not web traffic usage.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            And here is my problem with stats: http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/10/01/only-4-percent-of-ios-6-users-use-maps-bullshit/.

            When they are negative (anti-Apple), it is BS. When they are positive, someone gets “kicked”.

            Hence my original point: “Again, pick your stat to choose your winner. Never ending argument.”

            Bringing me to last point: “Enjoy your cake.”

          • JohnDoey

            The reason it is bad if an Android user sticks to their PC is that iPhone users have had a PC in their pocket for 5 years. I am drinking your milkshake each and every one of those days.

            My roommate paid $199 for his Android phone plus $75 per month, and all he got was a phone with baby Java applets. He does not use it as a PC because it is not a PC, Android is by definition not PC-class. I paid the same for my iPhone, and I use it as my primary PC, even though I am a songwriter and have heavy computing needs. I record multichannel music and audio with an iPhone 4S, GarageBand, Apogee MiC, and Beats Studio headphones. I work whenever inspiration strikes, wherever I am, recording for about 5 hours solely on batteries, with about 2 minutes of setup time, and all the gear weighs well under a quarter kilo. I carry the iPhone, MiC, and headphones everywhere without any trouble.

            Meanwhile, I have a friend who is also a songwriter. She has an Android phone she uses for calls and texts. There is no PC-class GarageBand audio/music recorder, there is no studio-quality Apogee MiC for her to use. So she continues to do her songwriting in the same way as in 2007: she has to go to her music studio and use a $1500 Mac system. She can’t write a song while waiting a few hours between recording session. She can’t write songs on the road unless she humps the Mac-based system around. The only advantage her Android phone gave her over feature phone is larger screen, better PDA functions, some basic Java computing. She did not suddenly get a second Mac in her pocket for $199 like me.

            Thing is, she writes maybe 20 songs per year, while I write between 300 and 400, up from about 60 in 2007, when I only used Mac-based tools. So if she had also adopted an iPhone in 2007, she should be writing 100–150 songs now, if her Mac pace is 1/3rd mine. When a song comes to me, I do 2 minutes of setup and I record it right then and there. She is still losing those extra songs because she is still running a 2007 computer workflow, still traveling to a room full of gear just to record a quick song idea.

            So Samsung/Google made her computing setup LOOK like an iPhone, cost as much as an iPhone, but they did not deliver the PC-class system or apps, they did not liberate my friend From 2007-style computing technology the way that I have been liberated.

            Having a Mac in your pocket simply enables you to drink the milkshake of those who have calls/texts/Java in their pocket. App Store enables people to move their PC-class work from Mac/Windows to iPhone/iPad. Nobody else is doing that yet.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            Wow, wow, wow…wow wow! I won’t even go through a refute all of this weirdness but I will try to help your friend.

            1) Tell your friend to try Zquence Studio for multi-track song creation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=zquencestudio.application&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInpxdWVuY2VzdHVkaW8uYXBwbGljYXRpb24iXQ. 2) Tell your friend to search the Play store for song writing apps specific to his needs. I found several but am not sure what song writers require. I mean, Evernote/similar seem fine to me (a space to type is all you need IMO but I could be horribly wrong there). A quick Google provided someone else with the same thought: http://www.davidsantistevan.com/use-evernote-to-help-you-write-songs/.

            I agree the accessory market is considerably better on iOS. Android hasn’t followed through on that promise as of yet.

            Lastly, try opening your mind a bit. You clearly are an iOS lifer and that is fine but you don’t have to lash out at non-iOS systems or people who prefer them to validate your choice.

  • JohnDoey

    Samsung is still doing well. But they don’t make a high-end personal computer in a pocket for factor like iPhone. Samsung only makes 2005-style phones, with some basic Java applet computing features bolted on.

    So when we compare usage on some computing metric like Web usage, we will always see iPhone well ahead, because it is a computer. When we compare some phone metric like number of units sold without data plan, of course Samsung will win. They sell phones in twice as many locations and for 4x the number of years of Apple.

    Within 2–3 years, Samsung will be another Motorola. The demand for the baby computing tasks you can accomplish with Android will go down as demand for pocket video editing and multitrack recording and other real computing tasks goes up. Further, A6 is the last Apple chip Samsung will fab, reducing the company’s chip-making business by half. So Samsung is benefitting from the mismanagement of other traditional phone companies like Motorola and RIM and Nokia, but Samsung is headed down the same pipe. The only thing that may one day truly compete with iPhone is Windows-NT-on-ARM, aka Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 Phone. They are a PC class platform on ARM, just like iOS. But the October 25, 2012 launch date of those products is 5.5 years after the iPhone launch date, and Microsoft has no chance on 3rd party hardware, which is not only undesirable to the consumer, but also drives up the price per unit compared to Apple. (Windows RT tablets have low-res screens, are heavier than iPad, have worse battery life, have almost no apps, and yet cost $100–$300 more than iPad with Retina Display and innumerable apps and accessories.