StatCounter allows users to identify search engine usage trends, get market share stats for mobile browsers, find the most popular operating systems, and other metrics, using this free tool.
RStatCounter Global Stats (gs.statcounter.com) is a metrics tool offered by StatCounter, a free visitor analysis service that monitors human interaction with your website. While the basic StatCounter service is an alternative to systems such as Google Analytics, StatCounter Global Stats delivers a composite view of user environments around the world.
This data serves as a valuable reference for online marketers seeking the current consumer pulse as it relates to device choices.
For example, StatCounter Global Stats provides up-to-date current and historical details revealing the most popular browsers, browser versions and operating systems, including mobile browser and OS, along with the most widely used desktop and mobile search engines, and screen resolutions, as well as the proportion of desktop vs. mobile users, plus the most popular mobile devices and social media sites.
This data serves as a valuable reference for online marketers seeking the current consumer pulse as it relates to device choices — with detailed trending that shows what platforms to target on a per-region basis, isolating information for the markets of your choice.
For example, StatCounter Global Stats reveals that 320x480 is the most popular mobile screen size for European users (at 38 percent), while their Australian counterparts also prefer this screen resolution — but for a whopping 68 percent of users. Japanese users also prefer this size, with a 44 percent share, which holds the same for the U.S.
The trending and other data helps, however; with the above examples revealing that while the U.S. and Japanese markets have the same love of 320x480 devices, the trend in Japan is moving towards a larger screen, while Americans still tend to have smaller displays.
The company states that the Global Stats rely on more than 15 billion monthly page views generated by its 3 million plus member sites around the world, anonymizing the data it receives from users of its analytics tools. The figures do not rely on surfer toolbar usage (the way that Alexa reports do), and are not weighted with artificial factoring, making them a reasonable snapshot of actual Internet use today.
