Data collected by GfK Network Intelligence has unearthed some pretty startling information for those of us in the industry who have preconceived notions of what people are into and how most smartphone owners use their mobile devices. GfK has discovered that Android users use their web browsers the most and tend to visit on average about 9.1 sites per day. Next up is the iPhone, clocking in at 8 websites per day, followed by RIM’s BlackBerry platform getting 5.7 sites in their daily routine. In last place are Symbian users, who visit just 5.2 sites per day, which was so low that even GfK said that Symbian owners tend to use their devices more like dumbphones than smartphones.
How large your screen is also a factor in determining how much time you spend on the net. People with a device that has a screen smaller than 2 inches, and it’s pretty damn hard to find devices with screens that small, manage to consume 2.8 website per day. Those who are mad enough to carry around a device with a 4 inch or larger screen visit 10.4 websites per day.
When you start talking social networking things change, and this is where it gets interesting: If a Symbian user goes online, there’s a 24% chance that the site they’re on is Facebook. That number goes down to 17% for iPhone users, 16% for BlackBerry users, and Android users are in last place with just 13%. Now take into account, the Facebook application for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android platforms are robust enough that you shouldn’t even need to pop open the browser, whereas Symbian’s Facebook applications, most knocked up by third party developers, are rather clunky.
At the end of the day it’s the platform with the best browser that gets the most usage and while I love the screen on my iPhone 4, and the brain dead ease of use, I hopelessly miss the Android web browser.