High Hopes for Mobile Browsing Drive Development, Browser Wars
Mobile browsing is on the rise. It’s gaining traction and hoards of users, Facebook‘s given the sector its stamp of approval, and the amassing support for HTML5 is a promising development towards its ongoing adoption. Mozilla’s seeing the benefits of Android’s platform in particular, launching an exclusive app for Google’s mobile OS.
The Android-exclusive Firefox 4 rolls out to the market in beta and boasts incredible speed, stability (bug fixes), theme support, and nearly a hundred add-ons to choose from. A recent benchmark was reported to have tested it and results came out twice as fast as stock browser in SunSpider test and three times faster on Kraken. Firefox 4 claims to be faster than Android’s default browser itself in terms of Java script.
But Mozilla’s not the only browser provider in the game. Recent updates in mobile browsing include Opera Software’s launch of the new Opera Mobile Beta 10.1 for Android. There’s also the launch of iPad Skyfire last December, giving Skyfire an OS leap and a broadening presence in the mboile arena. Skyfire’s growth in particular indicates the opportunities the mobile landscape has provided, driving new processes around the act of mobile browsing.
A recent Cisco report revealed that mobile web traffic will explode by up to 26 times by the end of 2015. This is only a logical prediction to reach, considering the 156% increase in mobile data traffic in between 2009 and 2010. This dramatic swelling is caused by the emergence of portable, internet-enabled devices such as smartphones and tablets, as well as these increase in mobile video consumption on these gadgets.
Perhaps another factor that could further elevate mobile traffic are the rise of mobile browser-based social games such as MocoSpace’s Stage Hero, which was reported to have 350,000 active users on its first month. Gaming has certainly made its mark on the mobile industry, with emerging markets seeking refuge in mobile browsing. GameStop-acquired Kongregate landed itself in deep water when launching a market app that distributes other games, resorting to mobile browser gameplay after Google briefly kicked its Arcade app off the Android Market.
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