Browser wars – iPhone beats Microsoft already

Although I run a Windows Mobile website I’m never afraid to criticise the phones or the Operating System. There’s a few major things I’d like to see improved, but one major problem is Internet Explorer. Sure, HTC have helped a great deal with their TouchFLO technology, but the speed and rendering within Internet Explorer still isn’t good enough.


Is it shocking that I should say that? Well, no. Unfortunately there’s some painfully real statistics to show just how bad the problem is. A netapplications.com report shows that Pocket Internet Explorer has a 0.06% share of the overall web-browser market. That’s 0.06% of every browser, including PC-based browsers. Compare this to the iPhone, which has been on sale for just five months. It’s already managed to grab a 0.09% share of the overall web browser market.


Let’s put this into perspective. The Windows Mobile platform has been around for years and years with roughly 20 million phones out there, yet the iPhone has shifted around 1.4 million and has only just appeared. Sure, there’s lots of new iPhone users busy browsing the web and their habits may change when they become more accustomed to the device, but these figures are worrying. These figures seem to suggest that 20 million Windows Mobile owners aren’t actually using the inbuilt browser as much as their iPhone counterparts.


Sorry Microsoft, but the slow-rendering, juddery browsing experience from Pocket Internet Explorer must die. We shouldn’t have to rely on third-party browsers from NetFront and Mozilla, the in-built one should be quick, smooth and – more importantly – should not put people off browsing. This is why Firefox is being used more and more on PC’s, and now a similar thing is happening in the mobile world. Oh, how I wish I could click the “Windows Update” function on my phone and get this fixed, but instead I fear it’ll be a long wait until Windows Mobile 7.. possibly even 8.


Links – iPhone Browser Share – Windows Mobile Market Share