A study by Flurry shows a significant shift in usage trends for personal electronics. Because “smartphone and tablet shipments exceed those of desktop and notebook shipments” for the first time in 2011, users are now expecting more from their handheld devices than those they leave on their desk.

But this newly-peaked reliance on the handheld and tablet devices also brings about another change of pattern–consumers using mobile applications more than they use their mobile browswer.

Our analysis shows that, for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption.  This stat is even more remarkable if you consider that it took less than three years for native mobile apps to achieve this level of usage, driven primarily by the popularity of iOS and Android platforms.

This trend doesn’t surprise our team at OPUSfidelis. Many of our staff use their mobile devices for many different usess, whether it be using business/productivity tools, keeping up with social networks, or deciding where to go eat or watch a movie this evening. For all these tasks, a variety of specific-purpose applications are offered, optimized to work quickly and intuitively on the handheld operating system in use. The speed and familiarity of mobile applications is often desired over the slower, and sometimes less functional mobile web.

Does this mean the end of web ‘browsing’? Well, perhaps just while you’re on the run.