Windows Mobile web use grows 50% in one month, WM 6.5 a quiet success?

We have often seen Net Application’s Market Share analysis used to condemn Windows Mobile, but this month at least the company, that generates its numbers from analysing traffic to thousands of websites, has good news for Windows Mobile fans.

Web site use for Windows Mobile has apparently seen a sharp upward spike in December, rising from 0.04 to 0.06% of all web traffic measured, constituting a 50% increase in usage over the festive season.

Of course Net Applications can not explain the increase, but 2 obvious reasons come to mind.  One is that Windows Mobile 6.5 may have had more of an impact than analysts give it credit for, making Windows Mobile-based devices more consumer friendly and inviting to use. 

The next would place the full responsibility for the spike on one device only – the HTC HD2, which certainly has a very good web browsing experience due to its capacitive screen and fast Snapdragon processor.

The month on month increase is the second greatest percentage-wise for the mobile OS’s broken out by Net Applications:

Such growth is certainly unusual for a mature product, as can be seen by the percentages of other established devices such as the iPhone, Symbian and RIM, but often does signify either the release of an new version of an OS or hit device, both of which occurred recently for Windows Mobile.

Palm would however be disappointed, with the company not only not showing any month on month growth in the festive season, but no significant growth across the whole year either, starting and ending the year on 0.01% despite the much hyped Pre and Pixi.

Is Windows Mobile 6.5 a secret hit? Drop your opinion in the comments below.