Feature Phones Make Java ME, Not Android, the #2 Mobile Internet OS 286
bonch writes "According to a report from NetApplications, which has measured browser usage data since 2004, Oracle's Java Mobile Edition has surpassed Android as the #2 mobile OS on the internet at 26.80%, with iOS at 46.57% and Android at 13.44%. And the trend appears to be growing. Java ME powers hundreds of millions of low-end 'feature phones' for budget buyers. In 2011, feature phones made up 60% of the install base in the U.S." Looking at the linked chart, it looks Java ME's been ahead of Android for all of 2011, too, except for the month of October.
Mobile OS? (Score:5, Insightful)
Duh, since when was Java ME an OS?
Sorry, but this is bull (Score:5, Insightful)
I have access to a great deal of actual and current mobile usage data, and this is just completely at odds with reality. "Feature phone" owners in the United States typically do not have data plans and do not use the Internet.
Actual measured usage of mobile Web services by "feature phones" is slightly above that of Windows Mobile, which is to say "irrelevant noise at the bottom of the chart" in the range of 1 to 2 percent.
Grandpa's Jitterbug may in fact run J2ME, but Grandpa doesn't use it.
Re:Sorry, but this is bull (Score:2, Insightful)
I have access to a great deal of actual and current mobile usage data, and this is just completely at odds with reality."Feature phone" owners in the United States typically do not have data plans and do not use the Internet.
Actual measured usage of mobile Web services by "feature phones" is slightly above that of Windows Mobile, which is to say "irrelevant noise at the bottom of the chart" in the range of 1 to 2 percent.
Grandpa's Jitterbug may in fact run J2ME, but Grandpa doesn't use it.
Yes, in the USA, feature phone owners do not use the Internet. However, there are a few poor, sorry souls who do not have the good fortune to live in the Android-buying, iOS-loving, Blackberry-clutching USA.
The summary links to two articles; the first one (Netmarketshare) is global and the second one (Neilsen) is US-specific. Sounds like your data is US-specific as well.
Re:Just another... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is why I brought up the point that Android's going to catch up to iOS Six Months From Now.
People are buying Android but they're simply just not using Android devices like iOS users are. this is a problem with carriers, phone hardware vendors AND Google. People are buying these phones and just not giving a damn. OTOH, iOS users are actually engaging with their devices. This is poison for Android as an ecosystem.
Re:Holiday impact? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Still pay five times more per month (Score:3, Insightful)
LOL mobile phones in the US are the biggest scam / confuseopoly you can imagine. Imagine the opposite of the European business relationship, and you're there.
I was doing the Virgin Mobile $7/month plan like Tepples, and recently lucked into the republic wireless while it was open for beta, and I'm quite pleased with it, although it does cost about 3 times as much at $20/month.
My $120/month iphone coworker is absolutely aghast that he pays more per month than I pay in half a year. A large part of the appeal of smartphone ownership in the US is signalling to the opposite sex (or whatever) that you're rich and therefore desirable, ironically especially commonly used when the braggart is not rich at all. So my paying a sixth what he pays is the social equivalent of a drunken nascar fan in a stained wifebeater tee shirt barging into a ballet performance and puking on the stage, the nouveau riche are NOT amused...