What Antenna Problem?  The iPhone Posts a Record Monthly Usage Share Gain.

Upon the version 4 release, the iPhone posted its largest single-month usage gain ever in July.  This gain comes amid persistent reports of antenna problems.  Global usage share jumped from .59% to June to .7% in July.  In comparison, the May to June share was esssentially flat.  However, this is a typical share pattern prior to the release of a major upgrade, since buyers hold off purchasing until the new release

In more good news for Apple, the iPhone grew usage share at over twice the pace of Android.

Windows 7 Passes Vista

In July, Windows 7 surpassed Windows Vista in global usage share.  However, Windows XP is still the leading operating system by far, with double the share of Vista and 7 combined.

Internet Explorer on a Roll - Gains Another .42%

Internet Explorer extended its usage share gains by another .42% in July, gaining about 1% global share since May.  This is the second month in a row of global gains for Internet Explorer and the third straight month of gains for Internet Explorer 8 in the United States.  The gain comes at the expense of Firefox (-.9%) and Chrome (-.08%).

Internet Explorer 8.0 extended its lead as the world's leading browser by gaining .98% share globally (all editions included).

Why the Yahoo Japan / Google Deal Matters More Than You May Think

On July 27th, Yahoo Japan announced a deal with Google where Yahoo Japan would switch to Google's search and advertising technology.  This is a departure from Yahoo's agreement with Microsoft to provide such technology.  Yahoo Japan can do this since Yahoo is only a minority shareholder in the company.

The impact of this deal is made greater due to Yahoo Japan's relatively large market share in Japan, with about 40% of all searches in July compared to about 6% worldwide.