Study: iOS, Android web usage surges

Reading this article on an iOS or Android device? You’re not alone— a new report from Netmarketshare indicates that both systems have rapidly gained usage share over the last year, though iOS devices still have an nearly five-to-one advantage over their surging Android competitors.

The report, released Friday, tracks the usage share of both mobile operating systems from November 2009 to September 2010. Android market share grew a whopping eight times over that ten-month span, traveling from an initial .03 percent adoption to .24 percent by the end of September. Apple’s iOS continued a steady but upward climb, nearly tripling its .43 percent share to 1.18 percent.

The report also broke out the prevalence of individual iOS devices. The iPhone leads the pack with .75 percent, followed by the iPad at .30 percent, and the iPod at .12 percent. (And yes, that iPad number is larger than than the total Android usage share.)

On the Android side, version 2.1 is the most widely adopted of the three, with .08 percent. Android 2.2 and 1.6 are ranked immediately below with .07 percent and .06 percent, respectively, while Android 1.5 trails behind with .02 percent.

This report follows a recent Netmarketshare report that iOS has surpassed Linux as the third most common browsing platform.