Earlier in the year, we suggested that, with the iPad and other iOS devices, Apple is forking the Web:

The iPad isn’t about Web-applications – it’s about Internet-enabled applications.

Instead of the one-size-fits-all approach of the computer Web browser, Apple is creating a platform of dedicated apps that do one thing really well.

In other words – Apple doesn’t want to have the best platform for running a Web browser. It wants to have the best platform for browsing Internet-based content.

The Mobile Internet Is Forked Already

New data backs this idea up.

According to research based on more than 10,000 smartphone users, “native data applications, such as social networking, multimedia and maps, capture already 50% of all mobile data volume.”

Although the web browser is the single most popular data application (54% of data application face time and 50% of data volume), native data applications are increasing their share of face time relative to the web browser:

• These native applications represent all kinds of usage purposes from social networking, maps and productivity to information and utility.
• Facebook’s native application catches monthly 12% of users with high face time of 188 minutes on average per month.
• Twitter, on the other hand, is used even more, averaging 311 minutes a month although it has a smaller monthly user base of only 4% of active smartphone users.

“We clearly see that there is a strong counter-acting trend for the Google- driven push for web-based applications in mobile, this force coming from native applications that people install to smartphones, says Dr. Hannu Verkasalo, founder of Zokem. “As mobile consumption patterns get richer, and people learn to require more and more functionalities, the native applications in most cases provide the best user experience”.

While Apple was the first to push this trend, other platforms, especially Android, could be just as important.

This trend poses new challenges and opportunities for new media developers. As people spend more time on mobile Internet devices, traditional approaches to blogging, podcasting and Internet video are going to be challenged by platform-specific applications.

via rrw