Is Mobile Taking Off in Belgium?

Google Analytics, Mobile and Belgium

One year ago, Google Analytics launched a new set of reports regarding the Mobile. Since then it is much more easy to follow the penetration of the mobile internet in Belgium. We published a couple of articles on the subject. We realized that mobile internet was pretty limited in Belgium in terms of traffic representing between 0,40 and 0,50% of the total websites traffic. We also demonstrated that the growth was limited but more interestingly and not surprisingly that the iPhone was from far the number one with over 60% market shares of traffic coming from mobile devices (Q1 2010).

Apple’s market share even accounted for 80%. On the other hand, Android accounted for barely 3% as much as Windows and far behind the second player Symbian with its 9%. Last month, in October, Mobile traffic crossed the bar of the 1% with 1,23%. That is still not very impressive but the dynamics behind are showing a clear acceleration.

iPad and Mobile Internet
Even though at Semetis and after testing it we do not believe the iPad to be a mobile device such as a mobile phone, the iPad shows up in Google Analitycs mobile reports.

We saw for the first time traffic coming from iPad devices already in April 2010. The iPad was first commercialized in the US early April and then commercialized in Europe around July! There are definitely Apple geeks in Belgium! At that time, in April 2010, the iPad represented almost 2% of the mobile traffic (1,70%). The month after it jumped to 5% (4,51%) and in June it reached the 10% bar (10,04%).  We said the iPad not to be a mobile device such as a mobile phone but for sure the iPad is an internet device! Now in October, the iPad represented 30% of mobile traffic in Belgium.

iPhone and Android in Belgium
That’s sure Mobile Internet is hot and a big buzz for more than one year and a half now. The iPhone is 3 years and a half old and Android (G1) has 2 years now. Already! These two devices/platforms are the ones carrying that buzz. No doubts now that both are huge successes!

Let’s go back to the stats in Belgium. We wrote that in Q1 2010, Mobile traffic represented barely 0,5% of Total traffic to websites in Belgium. That’s for the big picture. What is more interesting for us is to monitor is how both platforms are evolving. At the beginning of 2010, the iPhone was the clear leader with its 60% market shares (in terms of traffic) while Android was nothing with its tiny 3%. But it is normal since the available android devices were pretty limited. A little bit more than 6 months later, Android is finally taking off in Belgium. From 3% in March, it made a huge leap to reach almost 9% in October.

Internet Mobile Devices Top 5 is:
iPhone (47%)
iPod (9%)
Android (9%)
Symbian (3%)
Others (less than 1% each)

iPhone and iPad equation
In October the iPhone went down to 47% (from its 60% early 2010). There is a clear relation between the rise of the iPad and the ‘fall’ of the iPhone. iPhone owners are the same than the iPad and they prefer to surf on their iPad which seems quite logic!

A clear acceleration
On a month to month basis (October vs September), iPhone traffic grew by +30% and Android +60%. Compared to Q1 2010, iPhone traffic is up by +66% and Android by +519%. On the same path mobile traffic grew by almost 3 times!

What will be the trend? At Semetis we believe it will continue to increase. New Android devices are coming to the market, Microsoft finally reacted with its new Windows Phone, Apple is just ahead of the game. The offer gets ready for a consumer we believe is just waiting for it ... probably under the Christmas tree!

This article is available on (reference): http://bit.ly/bfUeRy