It appears like iOS users are the ones who are crazy about mobile web browsing. According to the latest data, Apple’s operating system has finished 2011 on top with a 52.1 percent market share of mobile web, although that’s a fall from a 54.06 percent lead back in January 2011.

The new info comes to us courtesy of NetMarketShare which keeps track of the visitors to their network of websites. And surprisingly, their data suggests that Android users are not too much into mobile web.

Google’s OS is in the third spot with a 16.2% share behind Java ME with 21.27% market share. The ones which failed to get into the top three include Symbian (5.76%), BlackBerry (3.51%) and “Other” (1.07%) which should include Windows Phone.

The dominance of the Apple OS in mobile web browsing has been steady throughout 2011, with only slight fluctuations.

The highest numbers for iOS are in October when its market share climbed to 61.5 percent, most probably as a result of the iPhone 4S launch. The lowest was in February when its share dropped to 46.57 percent, likely due to customers selling their iPads to get their hands on the iPad 2 which was released in March.

Going a bit deeper into the info, Apple’s iPhone has a 25.24% share, while the iPad accounts for 24.53% and the iPod Touch is at 2.32%.

It’s certainly surprising that the Android platform’s share is far behind, especially when we consider the fact that Android has dominated the market when it comes to the number of devices sold and activated.

The idea here is to “add some serious business productivity tools for… anybody looking to upgrade from Symbian Anna to Symbian Belle.” Microsoft Apps will be available as a free download in the fourth quarter of this year. It includes Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile for instant messaging, Microsoft PowerPoint Broadcast for presentations, Microsoft OneNote for note-taking (plus Microsoft SkyDrive sync), and Microsoft Document Connection for viewing documents. SharePoint sync support for OneNote will come in early 2012.

The other big update coming in early 2012 is the addition of Word, Excel and PowerPoint as native applications outside of the Windows platform for the first time. This goes to show that the relationship between Microsoft and Nokia is running deep, going well beyond WP7. Today’s announcement is largely designed to give some hope to all the Symbian folks that Nokia hasn’t completely abandoned the platform just yet and that it’s still worth buying into. Whether you buy into that assertion is up to you.

Moving forward, we thought that Nokia was largely dedicated to the Windows Phone 7 platform, but it looks like they’re not quite ready to give up on Symbian just yet. In fact, they just created a new updated version called Symbian Belle and it’s being offered in three new smartphones: the Nokia 600, Nokia 701, and the Nokia 700.

The “all-new” Symbian Belle lets you personalize up to six home screens with dynamic “live” widgets, view notifications in a new pull down menu, enjoy “PC-like” web browsing, share content using NFC, and navigate with free Nokia Maps. So, it’s like the Symbian we’ve already seen on other Nokia devices, but with a few Android-esque alterations. Multitasking is done by flicking across live images of your open apps, not unlike webOS.

As far as the phones themselves, they all get 1GHz processors and the usual assortment of wireless connectivity. The Nokia 600 (photo left) has a 3.2-inhch touchscreen and a 5MP fixed focus camera, the Nokia 700 (photo right) bumps up to a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, and the Nokia 701 (photo center) has a 3.5-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT touchscreen. All three are expected to ship in Q3 of this year.

And so, not unlike RIM, I think Nokia has somehow found itself between a rock and a hard place. They want to keep selling current devices, but everyone knows what’s around the corner. Symbian Belle could just be Nokia’s version of BB7, with WP7 playing the role of QNX.

The iPhone has a lot of apps. Android has a lot of apps too. In the modern age of smartphones, you need your platform to have a huge number of apps if you want it to succeed. Just look at webOS: it’s a great operating system, but the lack of apps has certainly hurt the success of the Pre and TouchPad. Nokia doesn’t want the same thing to happen to its vested interest in Windows Phone 7.

So, in preparation for the Finnish firm’s foray into the Microsoft-sourced smartphone platform, Nokia has forged a deal with Polar Mobile of Toronto. Under the deal, they’ll put together no fewer than 300 media applications for WP7. Interestingly, the deal calls not only for WP7 apps, but also apps for existing Symbian and MeeGo-based devices.

The apps are media-centric, looking to format and optimize content from international publishers for display on the smaller screen of a smartphone. These content providers include WiredUK, The Globe and Mail, and Shanghai Daily. This is likely only the beginning, but it could help give WP7 the boost that it needs. After all, WP7 only had about 9,000 apps as of the end of March. Android and iOS both had well over 100,000 apps. There’s just no comparison.

To help streamline the development, Polar Mobile will be using Nokia’s Qt development framework. This is a cross-platform solution, producing mobile versions of content for the various Nokia devices. The first Nokia WP7 smartphones are expected to hit in the first half of next year.

Trying to gain the US market, Nokia has made a bold and brave move by dropping everything and focusing only on its Windows Phone handsets, we know this already.
But what’s interest is that Europe is still attracted to low-end devices, but when it comes to the US market, it’s all about the smartphones. And not just any kind of smartphone, but one that it’s worthy to compete with the popular iPhone.

Chris Weber, President of Nokia US explains “When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business … The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn’t matter what we do”. Nokia is craving for a bite of the US market and has tried all sorts of things to get a taste, including opening offices in Silicon Valley and offering promotions.

With the Symbian or the Series 40, Nokia could hardly be looked at as a menacing rival on the US market. The trick could work in some developing markets, but not when it comes to the US. But now it looks like the Finnish company is playing all its US cards on the Windows Phone devices, hoping for a miraculous boost from Americans.

I thought that Nokia was slowly trying to wean itself away from anything Symbian and focus its efforts on Windows Phone 7. Maybe not entirely, because what you’re looking at here is the Nokia 500, not an E-series nor an N-series. Instead, the Nokia 500 is the first smartphone to be powered by Symbian Anna.

The idea here is to take the Symbian framework and provide it with a “refreshingly new UI” for the phone. It’s supposed to give you better browsing and message composing, as well as updated Nokia Maps with free drive and walk navigation. Other specs include the FM radio, Ovi Store access, 3G connectivity, WiFi-b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, 2GB internal memory, and microSD expansion.

There’s no front facing camera, but you get a 5MP shooter in the back and a 3.2-inch 640 x 360 capacitive touchscreen on the front. Oh, and there’s a peppy 1GHz processor running the show too. It may not be groundbreaking, but we’re expecting the Nokia 500 to launch in Europe for just 150 Euro. That’s only about $213, making for quite the powerful smartphone at a reasonable price. If it makes it our way, I think it’d be a good fit for guys like Wind and Mobilicity, don’t you think?

Apparently, according to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, they opted for Windows Phone 7 to because they wanted to avoid a “duopoly.” They were concerned that the Nokia-Google tandem would create a market wherein it’d only be them and Apple. Instead, Elop says they “wanted to create a challenger.”

Right, because everyone would much rather be a strong third than split the top spot with one other party. Right, because it has nothing to do with the fact that Elop was formally playing for the same team as Ballmer and Gates. I’m not necessarily saying that going with WP7 is bad move (though the stock drop and massive exodus appear to indicate otherwise); I’m just saying the avoidance of a duopoly isn’t that good a reason.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how these two juggernauts combine their efforts. Bing Maps or Ovi Maps? Ovi Store or Windows Marketplace? Or, more likely than not, we’ll get some Frankensteined combination of the two.

[MWC]

Nokia and Microsoft are teaming up to bring Windows Phone 7 to Nokia smartphones. It’s a move that almost sounds like it makes sense, since Windows Phone 7 shows some promise (but hasn’t really carved out huge market share yet) and Nokia is still a leader in hardware sales (though those numbers are quickly slumping).

The idea, I suppose, is that they can capitalize on their synergistic advantages, better equipping themselves to fight off the iPhones and Androids of the world. Remember that, up until now, Nokia has remained steadfast with using its own operating systems. This is a huge shift, but considering that Elop was once with Microsoft, it’s a move that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Unfortunately for both companies, this relationship could be ill-fated from the beginning. Nokia shares plummeted nearly 10% on the news and, in a strange twist of fate, Microsoft is paying Nokia “hundreds of millions of dollars” to use WP7. This comes in the form of “engineering assistance and marketing support.”

Maybe this synergy will work. Nokia has incredible economies of scale and it has a huge foot-hold in nearly every country around the world (though its presence in North America isn’t nearly as prominent). Windows Phone 7, even in its early stages, is showing promise and having Nokia’s level of reach could be most helpful. Then again, they could still be doomed. Time will tell. This is just the honeymoon period for these two lovebirds; wait until the “old couple” bickering comes into the picture. One thing is for certain, not many of Nokia employees are happy with the decision as 1000 walked off the job today.

It looks like Bill Gates dumping 90,000,000 Microsoft shares was a smarter move than many may have realized.

The announcement isn’t new — Intel said it was going to do this — but now we’re getting our first real look at a phone powered by Medfield. Sort of. What you see here is a shot of Anand Chandrasekher holding a Medfield-powered phone. He’s the VP and GM of the Intel Ultra Mobility Group.

So, what do we know about this handset? Not much, unfortunately. The Medfield processor is supposed to rival the ARM chipsets, providing plenty of horsepower with minimal power consumption. The expectation is that Intel will, at the very least, be working with Nokia on something. The Nokia N9, for example, could get a 1.2GHz Medfield to go along with its MWC debut, dropping the physical keyboard in the process. There’s also word of a MeeGo tablet with Medfield.

Will Intel work with the Android crew too? How about its old buddies at Microsoft for Windows Phone 7? From Hummingbird to A4 (and soon A5), there certainly is no shortage of mobile processor options these days.

[Maemo via Twitter]

This is according to the Q4 2010 sales figures as released by Reuters, which is a little different that exact market share, but it does represent what people are buying. It’s only a matter of time. For Q4, a total of 33.3 million Android smartphones were shipped. Compare that to the 31.0 million Symbian phones shipped by Nokia, the previous leader.

What’s really interesting is that Symbian actually increased its sales (29.9 million in Q3), but it lost market share due to the more rapid adoption of Android (which had only 20.3 million devices shipped in Q3). Remember that it was only in Q4 2009 that Symbian had a 44.4% market share; that’s now dwindled down to 30.6%, despite an increase of about seven million units over the same period.

It probably helps that there are so many manufacturers on board with the increasingly mature Android platform. Compare it to the 16.2 million iPhones, and 14.6 million BlackBerry devices sold in Q4. Not surprisingly, Windows Phone 7 isn’t exactly all that popular just yet with just 3.1 million sold in Q4.

[Reuters via Engadget]