On Thursday 06 January 2011 01:29 PM, Shamit Verma wrote:
On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 9:06 AM, Binand Sethumadhavanbinand@gmail.comwrote:
But then you are counting entire Blackberry under Webkit - which is probably not true (only recent Blackberries I believe, have Webkit-based browsers).
Also, Nokia uses Webkit only on S60 mobiles - the S40 and older mobiles all had non-Webkit browsers (my Nokia 6303 Classic came with Opera Mini pre-installed).
Lastly, Opera has a number of private-labeling deals with OEMs - in the Statcounter chart, there is an entry for Samsung, which is one such. I think Samsung's non-S60 mobiles all use Opera.
Mind you, I don't doubt Webkit is gaining popularity - Apple ported it to iOS, Nokia to S60, Google to Android - all large markets. But what I'm doubting is if it has already overtaken Opera.
This percentage is based on number of http requests and unique users making those requests. On every http request, client sends a header to server to identify itself. This header indludes info on OS, Browser versions etc.
Statcounter, NetApplications and others take this data from Layer1 routers and poulblish aggregate data. Opera made its claim on these numbers.
Opera, when it is running on Samsung or Nokia or iOS identifies itself as Opera. So if you are using Nokia 6303:
1. If you use Nokia's built in browser, Header will report that as Nokia browser running on Symbian 2. If you use Opera Mini, Header will report that Opera running on SymbianTo debunk Opera's claims, sum of Android + iOS is enough. Because that alone is 36% which is MUCH higher than Opera's share of total http requests. Android and iOS browsers are based on Webkit. Others like Symbian / Smasung have mixed engines (Webkit on latest phones, custom engines on others).
So it boils down to the fact that if a browser is willing to give up its identity and let the individual hardware makers use its code but add their own label to it then it will be more popular.