Bango has released statistics showing that the iPhone is not in the top 20 handsets used for browsing and buying content on the mobile web worldwide. The Bango Top 20 handset list, based on Bango's February statistics, puts the Nokia 3110c on top, with the Samsung M800 in second place and the Nokia 6300 in third. The iPhone appears 24th on the list.
This data represents the activities of major brands and businesses as their consumers browse to mobile websites (measured by Bango Analytics) and buy mobile content and services (as measured by Bango Payment). Bango says the stats will be of interest to businesses that monetize their mobile content and services across a wide demographic, as spending by iPhone users is restricted to the Apple App Store.
Bango detected a total of 1,811 different types of handsets accessing the mobile Internet in just one month, with Smartphones accounting for 30% of the Top 20 handsets. You can see the full list here.
The iPhone has done a lot to encourage people to browse the Internet on their phones,” says Bango CEO, Ray Anderson. But to get the most out of their mobile marketing spend, companies who are riding the iPhone wave, attracted by its excellent features and user demographics, need to optimize their mobile websites for all phones, especially those in Bango's Top 20 handset list. Without this, they will be missing out on the mass market.
Bango says that marketers need to choose their best channel to market and consider sales projections from the leading manufacturers. It notes that, based on the number of handsets projected to be sold by the end of 2009, outside of Japan and Korea, Nokia is the leader, with sales of S60 devices likely to reach 300 million, followed by Windows Mobile and iPhone at 40 million, RIM at around 25 million and Google around 5 million.
You can find out why Anderson feels the iPhone didn't make the top 20 handset listing on the Bango blog.