According to the latest data from Net Applications for the month of March, Apple is steadily increasing its lead for mobile browser share over Android and many other platforms with Safari capturing 61.79-percent of mobile browser web traffic during the month. That’s a nice jump up from the 55.41-percent it had in February, while the stock Android browser lost market share by dropping from 22.82-percent in February to 21.86-percent in last month.
Opera Mini maintains its third position while dropping from 12.72-percent in February to 8.40-percent in March, with Chrome slowly closing the gap jumping from 1.96-percent in February to 2.43-percent in March.
Google announced today that it updated the mobile web app for Gmail and the Gmail Offline Chrome app with a refreshed UI and new features similar to recent enhancements to its iOS apps. On top of the redesigned visuals, Google also included improvements to search and Google Calendar integration:
Today we’re rolling out a similar refreshed look to the Gmail mobile web app as well as Gmail Offline (http://goo.gl/0f1ae) that includes many of these same changes. Try it out at gmail.com in the browser of your Android, iOS, Blackberry or Kindle Fire device.
Google noted it decided to implement a design for its web apps similar to its iOS offerings after receiving positive feedback since first launching the new iOS design in December. Expand Expanding Close
The Witcher 2 is one of the most sophisticated games ever presented on Mac computers. Prepare to test out the gaming potential of the new iMacs in one of the best looking games for Apple’s computers. We have prepared a special app to test the game’s performance before players can buy it. To check it out just click here
Chrome version 23.0.1271.96: Google has updated its Chrome iOS app today with one highly requested feature- the ability to play sound when the app is running in the background. That means content with sound that you are playing in the browser, such as a YouTube video or mp3, would continue play when multitasking. The update also includes a fix for a character encoding bug.
-Allow sound to play when app is backgrounded.
-Fix character encoding bug.
GoPro App version 1.1.13: GoPro has updated its iOS app to include support for features exclusive to the HERO3 camera lineup.
NEW ARRIVALS IN GAME CENTRAL STATION!
• Turbo Time is here! Enter the race for gold, and drive at turbo speed in this all-new arcade racer!
• New achievements are in! Earn new achievements for Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero’s Duty, Sweet Climber, and Turbo Time.
• Added language support for Dutch and Russian
With Android now on 75 percent of all smartphones sold, and Apple and Samsung battling in and out of court for the top vendor position, the smartphone wars usually come down to units sold. Apple vs. Samsung. Android vs. iOS. Less of a focus has been Google’s steady invasion of iOS, providing users with an alternative universe to most of the core features of Apple’s mobile operating system. The importance of Google’s ecosystem of iOS apps has never been more apparent than following the recent controversy over the removal of YouTube and Google Maps as default features of iOS. Apple realized the necessity of controlling key experiences on iOS, such as Maps, but it is running into a backlash from users in the process. It is not just facing competition from Android vendors; it is also now engaged in a struggle to keep Google from creating its own layer on top of iOS.
Google’s iOS apps are not just driving iPhone and iPad users to use Google services instead of Apple’s; they are increasingly an important aspect of the iOS experience for a large amount of users. Sixty-one percent of iOS users in our own polls said they were hesitant to even update to iOS 6 because of Apple’s new Maps app, many of which are still waiting for a standalone Google Maps app that Apple has yet to approve. Some say the Maps fiasco coupled with Siri might have even led to the departure of long-time iOS chief Scott Forstall, which many think could result in a new direction for iOS. What this means for Google’s presence on iOS going forward remains to be seen, but Apple does not appear to be ignoring the control Google’s apps have over its users.
