NetApplications

Despite a drop in December, Apple's iOS remained the top platform for mobile browsing, according to the latest stats from NetApplications.

Throughout December, iOS carved out a 52 percent share of the mobile market, down from 54 percent in November and 61 percent in October, but still in the lead. Google's Android ended December with a 16 percent share, a dip from the prior two months.

Drilling down further, the iPhone accounted for 25 percent of all mobile browsing and the iPad 24 percent, leaving the iPod Touch with 2 percent. Android 2.3 was the most popular version of Google's OS in terms of mobile browsing, followed by 2.2 and 2.1. Devices running Honeycomb 3.2 and 3.1 picked up a 1 percent share.

But nestled in second place between iOS and Android was Java ME (Micro Edition), a mobile platform found predominantly on feature phones. Smartphones have continued to surge in popularity this past year. But less-pricey feature phones still hold a fair chunk of the mobile marketplace as evidenced by Java ME's 21 percent share in December.

Trailing the big three were Nokia's Symbian with almost 6 percent of the mobile browsing market and RIM's BlackBerry with 3.5 percent.

Looking at specific devices, Samsung's Galaxy Tab grabbed almost half a percentage point. And though it's been hot among consumers, Amazon's Kindle Fire accounted for just one-tenth of a percentage point in the mobile browsing world last month, according to NetApplications.