AdMob: iPod Touch Now Second Largest Device on Network
I purchased an iPod Touch because I wanted the mobile Internet, apps and related functionality of the iPhone but didn't want to switch to AT&T. It would appear that many other people made the same choice according to the latest AdMob mobile metrics report (released last week):
The iPod Touch is now the #2 device in the AdMob network with 4.7% share. Combined, the iPhone and iPod Touch represent 15.5% of all worldwide requests.
Here is a high-level overview of the data (AdMob's summary):
- Smartphones continue to increase as a percentage of our network traffic, led by the iPhone. Symbian is still the #1 OS worldwide with 41% share and more than 90% share in Africa and Asia; however, the iPhone is challenging it in Latin America and Europe. The iPhone OS has already surpassed the RIM OS and Windows Mobile combined.
- In the US, the iPhone OS generated 48% of smartphone requests in December, up from only 9% in May. The RIM OS and Windows Mobile follow with 19% and 15% share, respectively. Only 2 full months after launch, Android has captured 2% OS share in the US.
- Palm OS share was 9% in the US in December. Palm's share reached 20% in June with the success of the Palm Centro, but they have seen their share steadily decline since then.
- Worldwide iPhone requests grew 86% month over month to 668 million in December, giving the iPhone a 10.8% share of total requests.
- The G1 (HTC Dream) was the #20 device in the US with 0.8% share in December. G1 requests increased 46% month over month.
- Worldwide requests increased 9% month over month to 6.3 billion, led by a 20% increase in North America.
The iPhone and iPod Touch have grown steadily, obviously. But so has Android. That will be even more true when multiple new Android devices hit the market this year. RIM, which generally offers a poor Web experience across most of its handsets, and WinMo have suffered at the hands of the iPhone, largely. Look in particular at the Worldwide OS chart above. Symbian, the smartphone incumbent in Europe is losing share. And WinMo has a relatively small share (<10%) in Western Europe. RIM's European share is even smaller.
These numbers don't necessarily track 1:1 with overall market share but they're representative of overall mobile Internet activity.