Apple Inc. (AAPL): Mobile ‘Net Usage, Vanity App Links

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made its own form of buzz from the Super Bowl, without actually having a commercial. No, it had nothing to do with the power outage, or Beyonce’s halftime show. (At least, there is no evidence of this so far.) Apple used a commercial to launch a new App Store feature for app developers, which may help improve on some news regarding Apple’s share of the Internet usage market for mobile devices.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) generated some talk post-Super Bowl when it revealed a “vanity app link” through its App Store as part of a commercial promoting Star Trek Into Darkness. For those who might have missed it, at the very end of the commercial, there is an appeal to viewers “for details and ticket information go to” followed by the “vanity” link of AppStore.com/StarTrekApp. Apple announced Friday that it was introducing new shortlinks which would allow users to easily access the apps they want with a simple-to-remember URL. Users can either access the app by a specific name or a specific company and see all of that company’s apps. All of the shortlinks can be accessed all over the world and they will replace the former iTunes.com link.

Having the ability to access apps via the Internet just might be the trick that could allow Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to increase its new-found lead in the market of mobile Internet usage. In a recent worldwide survey of mobile Internet usage revealed that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) handsets lost their top spot on the list, as Apple now owns 2.59 percent of the market of Internet usage on mobile handsets, with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. listing second at 22.69 percent and Nokia third at 22.15 percent.

This is a large change from the previous survey, which had Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) leading with 37.7 percent of the market, with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) second with 28.7 percent and Samsung third at 14.8 percent.

How did Nokia lose its lead, and how did Apple surge to the front?

This survey from StatCounter, which tabulates the market on 15 billion pageviews per month on more than three million web sites, reported that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) had more than 72 percent of the usage market in India, but that dropped to 52 percent this year. This report seems to make sense, while Nokia had been dominant in emerging markets but has seen that market share slip while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung have dominated the handset market worldwide with iOS and Android operating systems. Meanwhile, Nokia has suffered when it tied its wagon to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its new Windows Phone OS in lieu of its native Symbian.

Will Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) continue to spead its lead in Internet usage now that it has the lead? Can Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) recover? And How do you think the “shortlinks” will work for Apple’s benefit? We’d like your thoughts in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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