Example:  The data indicates that 62.1 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the Wikimedia Foundation-owned sites or launched a Wikimedia Foundation-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 17 minutes and 7 seconds at one or more of their sites or applications.

The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division. The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content.

The launch of the Droid by Motorola–which runs Google’s Android 2.0 operating system–is the latest smartphone to be tagged “game changing iPhone killer.”  We prefer to view it as simply a quality choice in a growing line of smartphones rather than something that will stifle the competition. With only 10,000 applications available in the Android market and more than 100,000 available for the iPhone, the Droid–or any Android phone–won’t be killing the iPhone anytime soon. What the Droid will do is advance the use and adoption of web content to a connected device. Android’s integration with popular and widespread Google applications such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Voice is a big help as is its ability to run multiple applications (up to six on the Droid). Most users do this on their computers so being able to listen to music while browsing the web and sending email makes a multi-tasking smartphone an appealing option.

The Competition to The Competition

The mobile marketplace is not just a faceoff between the iPhone and Droid; over the next few months, there are at least six new devices on deck that will have large screens like the Droid, keyboards (the Droid has both a virtual and physical keyboard), and an ever-increasing number of applications.

Nielsen’s data from Q3 2009 suggests that if you buy an Android phone, you’ll likely use more of the data features more often than if using any other smartphone.

Also, for the first time in Q3, Nielsen saw more users accessing the Internet on smartphone than that of feature phone users. If this trend continues, we’ll see more than 80% of the devices accessing the Internet being these advanced phones.

The Mobile Universe is Expanding

In Q3 2009, historically the slowest phone sales quarter, more than 25% of all phones sold were smartphones. Expect Q4 to have more than 40% of the new phones sold be smart devices. This is important to watch as smartphones are on track to be the majority of phones in the U.S. by 2011. Projecting Nielsen data out through 2010, we see smartphones crossing 50% of the market by the middle of 2011, roughly equal to 150 million users. This shift could happen much faster with the right conditions such as continued competitive price points on devices, lower “all you can eat” data packages and the increasing consumer need to be connected anytime, anywhere.

By mid-2011, the U.S. should be just over 300 million mobile subscribers. If we assume that we will have over 150 millions uses of smartphones (based on our projections) and that 80% of these users will access the Internet and 60% will access video (given the current data trend these assumptions may actually be low), this means that over 120 million mobile users will be on the Internet and 90 million will be watching video. What we have typically called the “third screen” is quickly becoming an extension of the first and second screens (TV and desktop viewing) especially in some key demographics. Note how Hispanics and African-Americans over-index on Mobile Video and Internet Usage.

Overall, we see mobile media growth accelerating over the next year with more users paying for video and premium content. Remember,  the mobile phone is the one media device that is always within reach. The trend in the U.S. is more interaction, more consumption, and more connected devices. While not a competition killer, the Droid is the next logical step in a market with a wide array of rich media devices. As that trend continues, the battle for better smartphones with better access to content will wind up seeing the consumer as the clear winner.

Example:  The data indicates that 60.4 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the Amazon-owned sites or launched an Amazon-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 22 minutes and 44 seconds at one or more of their sites or applications.

The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division. The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content.

Looking at our newly expanded panel that includes more than 30,000 sites, we have found that short tail sites (those with a greater than 1 percent reach) remain the most engaging brands online.

It seems that the differentiation between the long tail and short tail is important. Long tail sites tend to have lower engagement levels than short tail sites.

However, it would be reasonable to ask: “well, since not all short tail sites are the same, what happens to those numbers if you remove portals and large social networks?” The answer is interesting. When we look at the data in relation to the highest traffic sites on the Web (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Apple and Facebook) here’s what happens:

Long tail sites tend to have lower engagement levels than short tail sites; however, the largest jump isn’t between long tail and short tail, it is really between everyone and the top 10 sites.

What does this amount to? As much as anyone thinks the future is in the long tail, it’s just not the case-at least not yet. In fact, consumers feel more comfortable on large, mass media sites. We know the Internet is changing. We know there are more blogs, boards, tweets and social networks than ever before. But what’s also clear is that while the Internet itself is fragmenting (like all other media), people continue to spend their time on the sites that offer them the most options and functionality.

The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division. The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content.

Google searches accounted for 63.5 percent of all Web searches with nearly 5.4 billion queries. Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask.com continued to round out the top five.

* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.

“December was an extremely active month in terms of news.  The economic downturn, and its effects on the holidays and coverage of the incoming presidential administration, among other stories, all helped drive this impressive growth,” said Chuck Schilling, research director, agency & media for Nielsen Online.

Nielsen Online also reported data regarding the top 10 parent companies and top 10 web brands for December.  That information and the full release can be viewed here.

Google searches accounted for more than 64% of all Web searches, with almost 5.2 billion queries.  Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET.com and Silicon.com, as well as in Mediaweek and Media Post.

Review September and October 2008 search results.

View the full press release.

View the top U.S. Web brands for September and October 2008.