AdMob Reports iPhone Leads Android

The newly-released Admob Metrics report reveals regional differences in the devices used for mobile Internet traffic requests on its network, and that the iPhone is the primary phone of choice outside of the United States.

Fifty-seven percent of the 44 million iOS devices in Admob's network are outside of the country, the report said. The iOS was the dominant platform with a 40% share in May, while the Android OS is on the rise with a 26% share due to the launch of new Android devices in the past year, Admob said, notably from HTC and Motorola. Overall, 90% of smartphone requests worldwide were generated from iOS, Android and Symbian.

Mobile internet requests are increasing rapidly worldwide and 92 countries generated more than 10 million requests in May, up from just 27 in May 2008, the new report highlights. In Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, Nokia is the dominant device used, while Apple holds the lead in North America, Oceania and Western Europe.

Smartphone traffic in Admob's network has doubled from two years ago, when it was 22% as opposed to 46% in May, the report said. Compared with one device a year ago, 14 devices generated 92% of Android traffic in May. Another notable finding was that Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, was knocked from the May list of the top smartphones' percentage of requests, after holding the 5th slot in May 2008 and the 10th position in May 2009.

The May report also found that 24% of U.S.-based AdMob traffic came over WiFi in that month. In terms of time, iOS and Android platform users spend at least 79 minutes a day using apps, and download about nine apps per month.

AdMob, which was acquired by Google in May, serves ads for more than 23,000 website and applications worldwide. From every ad request, impression and click, the data is stored and analyzed, the company said. Due to the sale, AdMob's blog said it will continue to share data, but will take a break from issuing its Mobile Metrics Report while they figure out how to "reinvent the report to make it more useful and relevant."