Google Chrome Holds 3% iOS Web traffic in North America

In North America around three percent of Web traffic accessed via iOS is done through Google Chrome browser, according to a research firm Chitika. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chrome has crossed this milestone for the first times on iOS.

Exact reason for Chrome popularity not known

The percentage though negligible might be a signal that many Apple users are finding Google Chrome an interesting option apart from having it on their desktop.

According to the research done by Chitika, for over 14 months since Google Chrome arrived on iOS, share remained stable around 2 percent. Google Chrome debuted on iOS, in 2012, and after one month of launch it became one of the most popular apps on the Apple App store. However, after hovering around 2 percent for about 14 months, Chrome finally hit 3 percentage points just a few weeks back.

The research firm was unable point the exact reason as why Google Chrome has grown popular, but it might be possible that the release of Version 30 of Chrome for iOS7 on September 18 along with the launch of new iPhone 5C and 5S on September 20, may have contributed a bit.

Chitika surveyed tens of millions of North Americans ad impressions, between September 1 and September 30, to arrive at the conclusion. Though usage of Chrome on iOS increased only 0.3 percent points following September 22, but it is significant to note that iOS has a massive user base and this surge can cause substantial impact.

Google search dominates UK web traffic

According to market research firm SimilarWeb, Google search feature generates over 50 percent of UK web traffic followed by YouTube, which accounts for 25 percent, and Gmail takes 12 percent. Google Maps get 3 percent of the total share.

Around 23 percent of the links from the search engine take to another Google property like YouTube, Gmail or Google+ from total top 10 destinations from Google.co.uk. Sponsored links garner 5.2 percent of total clicks on Google UK searches.

Google holds 86 percent of market share in UK compared to 8 percent by Yahoo and 6 percent by Microsoft’s Bing. More or less same proportion of market share is acquired by these services in other geographies, as well.