AdMob today released its monthly Mobile Metrics Report, focusing primarily on worldwide device and OS market share as seen through its network. AdMob says it places ads in around 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications, and generates it’s data by logging device, OS and location information for each ad-request it receives.
Nokia is still the clear leader in terms of worldwide device market share, garnering more than 50% of ad-requests from regions such as Africa and Asia. In areas of the world where the iPhone has entered the market, it’s done so at the expense of Nokia which has long had a stronghold in most regions. Nokia’s share has decreased steadily in Eastern Europe, for example, where its total market share has dropped to 35% in Q4 2009. Apple’s share in the same region has already skyrocketed to 23%, though 8 out of the top 10 devices are still Nokia produced.
Some interesting stats came out of Latin America, where AdMob noted that Sony’s PlayStation portable was the number 3 device in terms of smartphone ad-requests. Blackberry, though it has 3 of the top 10 devices in Latin America, only accounted for 8% of total ad-requests in the region, while the iPhone took the top spot with 39%.
Closer to home in North America, Apple lead with 40% followed by Samsung and Motorola with 17 and 11% respectively. Android showed strong growth- reaching 27% for Q4 2009, by far it’s highest penetration in any region. Still, the iPhone accounted for 54% of total smartphone requests.
Though it gives good insight, I still question the validity of AdMob’s Mobile Metric Reports. AdMob started as an iPhone-oriented mobile advertising company, and has since migrated to having a strong interest in Android-based devices as well, obviously. Since nearly all of the ads it serves to smartphones are centered around Android and especially the iPhone, it doesn’t give the greatest all-around snapshot. Still, it provides insight into the long-term given the fact smartphones such as Android and the iPhone represent the future of mobile devices and especially the future of the mobile Web and how to monetize it.
