Google Android Is Apple iPhone's Biggest Threat: Report
According to a new market research study from Google-owned AdMob, the iPhone held about a 50 percent share of the global operating system (OS) market for smartphone devices browsing the internet in February 2010. While that statistic may not be surprising, AdMob found that Google Android is creeping up from behind, capturing about 24 percent of the market share. Nokia-owned Symbian placed third with 18 percent of the market. Meanwhile, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Microsoft Windows Mobile are left in the dust with a paltry 4 percent and 2 percent of market share, respectively, despite its solid smartphone sales.
In the U.S., AdMob found that in February 2010 the Apple iPhone operating system held a 44 percent market share, down from 55 percent in November 2009; while Android's share rose in the U.S. from 27 percent in November to 42 percent in the most recent AdMob report.
While Apple maintained a 50 percent market share globally, Google Android devices like the Motorola Droid, the Motorola CLIQ, and a slew of HTC handhelds like the Dream, the Hero and the Magic helped push Google Android to No. 2, according to the study results.
"Android was the fastest growing operating system in the AdMob network year-over-year," the study explained. "Android's share of smartphone requests increased from 2 percent in February 2009 to 24 percent in February 2010."
The study, according to AdMob, illustrates that Apple iPhone and Google Android users take advantage of the mobile Internet more than users of competing devices.
AdMob services mobile ads for more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications globally and stores and analyzes the data from every ad request, impression and click within its network and issues monthly reports based on that data to evaluate the mobile device and mobile Internet ecosystem.
Other findings in AdMob's most recent study show that smartphones accounted for about 48 percent of AdMob's worldwide traffic in February 2010, which was up from 35 percent in February 2009. The increase in smartphone traffic pushed traffic from feature phones down. Feature phone use declined from 58 percent a year ago to 35 percent in February 2010.