iPhone market share looking towards the sky

The Mac isn’t the only Apple product ruthlessly stomping its competition and spreading its Grey goo-like grasp on the web: Net Applications reports that the number of iPhone users browsing the ‘net jumped 89% from November to December, accounting for .17% of all internet users.* Broken down by country, the iPhone won .27% of the market in the US, .11% in the UK, and .1% in France.

The numbers seem small…until you put them into perspective. The iPhone was launched in late June — about seven months ago — and since then has captured almost .2% of the web-using world. When you look at Net Applications’ numbers and see that Linux itself — which has been around for centuries — only has .63% of the web market, such a dramatic seven-month gain is nothing short of incredible. (Either that, or there are only, like, 100 Linux users in the world.)

Unlike the abundance of negative consequences associated with Mac market share gains, the negatives pale in comparison to the benefits when it comes to the iPhone. More iPhone users means more iPhone accessories and products, as well as more companies pressured to deploy iPhone-specialized versions of their sites. It also means that once the SDK is unleashed, more big-time developers will see profit potential in creating software for the mobile OS.

Then again…the more people there are who own iPhones, the less cool and special I am for owning one. Hmm. I take it back: the negative consequences are far greater than the benefits.

(*These numbers refer to Net Applications’ stats from last two days of December.)

[via MacDailyNews]

Category: News

Posted by Dan Pourhadi on Jan 2 2008, 4:00 PM ET

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iPhone illustration by Joe Zeff Design Inc. // Design by Jason Brightman