Apple kicks off 2012 with 52-percent share of mobile web browsing

Apple's iPhone and iPad finish the year with a one-two punch in mobile web-browsing market.

In what should come as a surprise to no one at all, Apple’s iOS finished 2011 with a dominant share of the mobile web-browsing market, and will begin 2012 as the operating system of choice for more than half of mobile tech consumers.

Net Market Share has a month-by-month breakdown of the mobile and tablet computer operating systems used for web browsing, and the final figures for December 2011 show Apple’s iOS leading the study with a 52.1% share of the market. In a distant second place is Java ME with 21.27% of the market, and Android with 16.29% of the mobile web-browsing tally.

And while the Cupertino faithful will certainly celebrate the report’s results, it’s worth noting that the iOS numbers for December 2011 are actually the result of a two-month slide. According to the report, iOS accounted for 61.5% of the market in October 2011, and saw its hold on mobile web-browsing decline in subsequent months.

Android has experienced a similar decline over the last few months, dropping from 18.86% to 16.29% of the market since October.

In contrast, Java ME, Symbian, and Blackberry have all increased their month-to-month share totals over the last few months.

For those wondering which iOS device — iPhone or iPad — accounted for the bulk of the report’s web-browsing data, the findings indicate that the Apple smartphone holds a slight edge over the tablet computer. iPhone users were responsible for 25.24% of mobile web-browsing traffic in December 2011, edging out the iPad’s 24.53% share.