YNOT – Although Google’s Android operating system owns nearly 50 percent of the worldwide smartphone market (Canalsys statistics), Apple’s iOS-powered devices continue to dominate when it comes to mobile web traffic, a report from web analytics firm Net Applications has revealed.

According to the study, Apple’s iPhone and other web-enabled i-gadgets account for 54.65 percent of worldwide mobile web traffic — a heft lead over rival Android, which has corralled only 16.26 percent. Even Java ME leads Android at 18.52 percent.

Two OSes trail Apple: Symbian with 6.12 percent and BlackBerry with 3.29 percent.

iPhone users must be tremendously addicted to the internet, because according to Canalsys, iOS powers only 19 percent of all handsets sold globally. Of course, a good deal of the web traffic attributed to iOS could be bound to Apple’s iPad, which during the second quarter of 2011 cornered a 68.3-percent global market share among tablets. Android tablets, on the other hand, slipped from 34.0 percent to 26.8 percent during the same period. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook may have stolen some of Android’s thunder, as the PlayBook debuted during the quarter with a 4.9-percent market share.

In August, research firm IDC predicted that by 2015 more U.S. internet users will access the web via a mobile device than by any other means. Western Europe and Japan are expected to follow suit, IDC noted.