StatCounter–iPhone browser share down 20% year on year, a “battle royal” going on in the smartphone market

StatCounter released a report Wednesday suggesting the days of the iPhone dominating the web are well over.  While the operating system had 51.9% of the smartphone browser market a year ago, this has dropped all the way to 31% today.

Of course while most of this is due to the rise of Android, which zoomed to 23.8% of the browser market, much of of this was also due to resurgence of Blackberry, due to the release of a better browser in Blackberry OS 6, leaving that platform with 34.3%

While Windows phone 7 does not feature in the stats yet, it is very clear that the online landscape has changed massively over the last year.

StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen noted that BlackBerry and Android combined are on course to become twice the size of Apple’s iOS in mobile  Internet usage next year. "These figures suggest that developers should not be developing solely for the iPhone to the exclusion of BlackBerry and Android," Cullen said.

"Every significant application will need a strategy and a prioritization list of which phone platforms to target, and Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 all have to be part of the consideration going forward" said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

Talking about Windows phone 7 specifically Aodhan Cullen said though Windows Phone 7 is not yet registering significant numbers in Internet usage, the performance of Microsoft’s smartphone platform will need to be closely watched over the next year.

"This data demonstrates that there is a battle royal already going on in the smartphone market for the consumer and business Internet user," Cullen said. "You can never underestimate Microsoft, but it looks to have its work cut out."

Read more at Newsfactor.com here.