For nearly two years since its release, iPhone has ferociously gobbled up mobile browsing market share, leaving other major browsers in the dust. Now the iPhone is losing momentum and was knocked from the top spot by rival Opera.

Upon its release, the iPhone immediately changed the way people surf the Web on their mobile phones. The iPhone’s browser was immediately robust enough to surf most standard Web sites in a very natural way using just a finger.

Since then every mobile browser developer has been scrambling to catch up in terms of features and usability. Opera was the first to release a browser with a user experience that could truly compete with the iPhone.

In fact, Microsoft’s Pocket Internet Explorer remains as clunky as ever and Mozilla is still working on releasing its Mobile browser. While you can’t count out either of these veteran players, they left Apple and Opera to gain an early lead.

For all of 2008, the iPhone continued to skyrocket to the top of the pack in terms of mobile browser share and usage on the Web. While it may have seemed a sure bet to remain at the head of the pack, the iPhone may be running out of steam.

This is one of the challenges innate to having a proprietary platform as the iPhone represents only 8 percent of all smartphones globally. The top three devices around the world are Nokia, RIM and Windows Mobile devices with the iPhone in a distant fourth.

The iPhone’s version of Safari isn’t available on other mobile platforms such as Nokia or Windows Mobile which comprise an astounding 64 percent of smartphones worldwide. By creating a great mobile Web experience for these users, Opera has eight times the potential user base than the iPhone.

Opera passed the iPhone in terms of mobile browser market share earlier in the year, but Apple reclaimed the top spot briefly as you can see below. All that’s left is to wait and see if Apple has any surprises in store this year that can help to regain its growth momentum.

*Top 5 mobile browsers in terms of market share per Statcounter

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 am under Apple, Cell phones, Internet.

Read more entries by Dave Jeyes.
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