Insights Into Mobile Internet Browsing on Android

NEW DELHI, Aug. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- UCWeb, a global leading provider of mobile internet software and services, today released a report on the behavior of UC Browser for Android users in India. This report offers an inside look into India's mobile internet usage behavior on Android based upon surveys and statistics provided by UC Browser. More infographic details can be found at http://www.ucweb.com/a/ppress/2013/0822/3162.html.

India, with its large number of mobile internet users, has become an attractive market for mobile internet companies. UC Browser has now become the No.1 mobile browser in terms of market share. According to statistics from StatCounter, the market share of UC Browser in India increased from 21.7% to nearly 30% from July 2012 to July 2013. From December 2012 to June 2013, active users of UC Browser on Android has increased by 117% in India.

Insights into the Indian Smart Phone Market

Smart Phones Drive the Mobile Market

In India, smart phones have become one of the biggest drivers of mobile phone growth. A report by Strategy Analytics in June 2013 showed that smart phone shipments in India exceeded Japan's during the first quarter of this year, making it the third largest smart phone market in the world behind China and the US. Furthermore, the number of smart phone shipments in India increased by 167% in January to April of this year compared to the same period last year, as reported by CyberMedia Research (CMR) in July 2013. Conversely, feature phone shipments increased by only 2.4%.

The Android Phone Boom with Samsung Dominating

Most people who access the web via UC Browser for Android use Samsung devices. Looking at the Top 20 Android devices of active UC Browser users, 16 out of 20 are Samsung devices. Other brands in the list include Sony, HTC, and LG. Among the top 100 Android devices of active UC Browser users, 42% are Samsung phones, which is significantly more than any other mobile phone brand.

$100 - $200 Phones Stay Mainstream

Despite the accelerating popularity of the more expensive smart phones over feature phones, half of UC Indian Android users still have Android phones priced between $100 to $200 USD, according to data from an IDC report.

User Behavior on Mobile Browsers

Facebook Acquires the Most Page Views

Facebook is the most popular website by monthly page views. Over 60% of total page views on Android are from Facebook. This is followed by Google Search, which gets 7% of the total page views.

Downloading is the Favorite Activity

Excluding Facebook and Google Search, 29% of the page visits via UC Browser for Android went to downloading sites while 24% went to video sites. Specifically, a majority of the video sites recorded also allowed people to download videos.

Video Watching Behavior on Mobile Browsers

Frequent Video Watching

According to a survey about video watching behavior conducted by UC Browser in July 2013, 63% of the participants watch videos almost every day. The average watching time per day was more than one hour as reported by 41% of the participants.

Downloading Videos is Preferred over Watching Online

An interesting statistic to note is that Indian users prefer downloading videos over watching videos online: 71% of the respondents stated that they prefer downloading to streaming videos. This preference exists not only among smart phone users, but also among feature phone users. This may be due to bandwidth not being wide or stable enough to provide a good online streaming experience.

Favorite Features: Fast Webpage Loading and Powerful Download

In a brand awareness and favorability survey given by UC Browser, users were asked about their favorite features of UC Browser. 19% of the respondents said that "fast webpage loading" was their favorite. Another 18% said it was UC Browser's powerful download function.

Mobile Internet Industry Insights

The number of mobile internet users in the Indian internet industry is larger than PC internet users as of May 2012. According to a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India in 2013, the number of mobile internet users in India reached 87 million at the end of 2012. This number is expected to double to 164 million by March 2015.

With the increase of mobile internet users, mobile browsers are playing a more and more important role in everyday life. UC Browser, now the No. 1 mobile browser in India, has significantly helped make mobile internet more accessible to Indian users.

Report Methodology

Unless sourced, all data used to create this report has been extracted from UC Browser statistics . In addition, all data related to adult webpages have been omitted due to its potential to offend.

About UC Browser

UC Browser, the flagship product of UCWeb, Inc., is a leading mobile internet browser with more than 400 million users across 150 countries and regions. This product is currently available on all major operating platforms in 10 different languages. UC Browser's mission is to provide a better mobile browsing experience to millions of users around the world.