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Mobile browser shares Q1 2011, part 2/2

Last week we treated the mobile browser stats of six countries; this week we take a look at the other six countries; the ones where the mobile web is not yet very big. There are few common denominators here; mobile browsing statistics remain highly localised.

Mexico

Mexico is the second most volatile market in my twelve countries. Big winner here is, unexpectedly, Opera, with Android also on the rise. Big losers are Safari and the minor browsers. Nokia and BlackBerry remain stable.

Right now I don’t dare to make a prediction for Mexico; its market development is odd and seems to follow no known patterns. Let’s see if the Q2 figures bring more clarity.

Mexico and Brazil are the two countries with the highest volatility and also the highest number of browsers that have at least 1% market share. I’m not sure what makes these markets so special, but there is a definite fudging factor. Quick-changing wealth patterns? Unusual operator procedures? I just don’t know.

Brazil

The Brazilian market is the most volatile one, with Opera losing a lot of market share, most of which, curiously, goes to Samsung. Its 12% score is the highest in my twelve countries. Apparently it is popular in Brazil.

The largest two browsers are the biggest losers, while all smaller ones but Bolt remain stable at the very least. So the larger browser lose share to the smaller ones, causing a further fragmentation of an already diverse market.

Brazilian mobile web developers have a more complex task than their colleagues in other countries.

China

The Chinese statistics clearly show that the country is slowly growing wealthier. Safari and Android are on the rise, especially the former, while traditional market leader UCWeb loses ground.

I assume Safari’s growth pattern mimics its rise in the developed countries in 2007 and 2008, but since StatCounter does not have statistics over those years I cannot be certain. Still, the pattern is pretty clear: old, crappy phones that require a proxy browser are losing ground to modern smartphones. That trend will not halt any time soon.

The Netherlands

The Dutch market continues to correspond most closely to the ideal: Safari market leader and growing slightly, Android second and growing fast, and the other browsers fading into obscurity.

I have no particular reason to think that this pattern will change. BlackBerry users might start to surf the web more, but right now there’s no indication that they in fact do.

Egypt

Egypt has seen fairly little change since last quarter. Nokia loses a bit, Safari, Samsung and BlackBerry win a bit; Android appears on the radar. One could argue that this means, like in China, that the country is becoming wealthier (or the rich do more mobile surfing), but the changes are so slight that it’s better to wait another quarter before jumping to conclusions.

Poland

Poland is changing, but right now I don’t see a particular pattern in the changes. With Opera and Android both winning 3 points, there’s no clear indication in which class to put Poland. Android wins (wealth is increasing?), but so does Opera (people want a cheaper browser?), while Safari loses a little bit (possibly a statistical artifact). Here, too, it’s best to wait another quarter before drawing firm conclusions.

Big Five overview

Finally, a quick overview of the Big Five in the twelve selected countries.