Each month, AdMob, a mobile advertising network, rounds up the data from over 6,000 mobile websites and applications, analyzes it all, and releases their findings in their Mobile Metrics Report. In the September report, AdMob determined that the iPhone had become the #4 handset worldwide by count of ads requested. In the October release, the iPhone has skyrocketed all the way to #1.
Note that these rankings are not directly representative of sales numbers; while AdMob’s ad network is wide enough that these numbers can provide an accurate picture of usage trends, they don’t necessarily prove that one handset is outselling another.
September vs October Worldwide handset rankings:
Within the Top 5, the only major change is the iPhones sudden surge. Below that however, notice the BlackBerry 8100s sudden disappearance from the list - it has shifted down to #11 (not shown in image), sitting just below the BlackBerry 8300. Why might this be? Well, the 8100 is a good half year older than the 8300 - chances are, more 8100s are reaching retirement.
September vs October US handset rankings:
In September, we were a bit surprised to see the iPhone sitting all the way down at #7 in the US while it managed to snag the #4 spot worldwide. In October, the iPhone’s rank seems a bit more well aligned with it’s worldwide status, coming in at #2. iPhone requests have more than doubled, allowing it to knock the KRZR down a notch. The rest of the list moves in relation, though as with the worldwide rankings, we see the BlackBerry 8300 climb as the 8100 sinks.
One thing to note with all of these statistics, however, is that the AdMob advertisements embedded into iPhone applications are counted alongside web site statistics. If these same advertisements are not embedded into applications on all of the other platforms, wouldn’t the numbers be skewed in favor of the iPhone? Even if they were given the same real estate across all platforms, third-party applications are a far more significant part of the iPhone than they are for the vast majority of devices; if you own an iPhone, chances are great that you’ve installed (and regularly use) a handful of applications. Can you really say the same about the KRZR, or the Kyocera K24? Wouldn’t this, too, skew things a bit? I’d be interested in seeing how the results change when limited to data gathered from website ad units.
Other interesting tid bits from the report:
- 29.5% of the traffic that AdMob saw in October came from a smartphone - 59% of that was from devices running Symbian, while 15% ran the iPhone OS
- 77.7% of devices AdMob saw in October supported Polyphonic ringtones, down from 79.5% in September
- As in September, the Danger Sidekick II is the only Sidekick device to break the Top 20, though it has slipped down from #15 to #16.
- 62.8% of iPhone requests were from the US.
- Most popular manufacturer by carrier: AT&T: Apple, MetroPCS: Motorola, Sprint: Samsung, T-Mobile: RIM, Verizon: LG
If you’ve got a couple hours to kill tearing through page upon page of statistics (now including stats for Latin America!), you can find the full report here.
Comments
I’m not surprised. Great to see my hometown Singapore in that list, and we only have a population of 4million!!!!
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There is no way the Iphone is the #1 phone in the world.
Unless you acount for phones in everylast country and do a tally there is no way to get a real answer. Most of the population of cell phone users in the world cant afford an iphone so there is no way it can be number 1, it may be # 1 device used online but not overall.
Right said, these stats are from a single ad network and the mobile phone manufacturers can tell the real scores. Iam sure Nokia would be #1
Countries like India are still to adjust to the iPhone. They find their good ole Nokia handsets more affordable and user friendly. I am pretty sure that if you compare the Nokia N96 market and iPhone , Nokia will have a pretty higher edge. The two service providers ( Airtel and Vodafone) who were the alloted the iPhone retailership are finding it hard to sell it here other than intial urge which they saw. Contrary to their word , they are approaching other retailers to sell the phone . And the cons like no sms forwarding stand as a pretty huge concern and the ” should I buy or not ?” predicament rules them all over when they hear something else which is bad about iPhone . And wel , I dont blame any as we still don’t have 3G .
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15 years ago, Netscape was #1 web browser in the world in terms of amount of online ads displayed. Where is it now? As web browsing on wireless phones becomes ubiquitous, the same fate awaits the iPhone.
It’s success will almost certainly diminish over time… but for now, and for the foreseeable future, it’s topping lists in popularity and customer satisfaction, and it’s steadily making headway into Enterprise markets.
Now if only Rogers and AT&T could remedy the persistent 3G problems, everything would be fine.
It’s funny how many people I know that carry both an iPhone and a Blackberry.
like many have said this is definately not true……. i mean this could just be countries with the highest internet users maybe other phone users just dont use internet…it could be anything, i would discard this data…and definately not sure what Japan is doing there as they prefer more advanced phones.
I think the accurate way to read the Admob reporting, is that iPhone is #1 for ad usage which is perhaps a good proxy for mobile data usage. Regardless of how you look at it, an impressive result for Apple, and a trend Admob and others are benefitting from (it just doesn’t mean iPhone is shipping greatest # of handsets …. obviously)
Twist the headline, get people to click….dumb show goes on…
I am sure Admob is applicable to only internet browsing phones and more than 60% of phone owners never browsed a single page on mobile internet, that is a fact..just please people..(particularly in your team..) stop this dead beat..mobile blog…good for nothing info…
I think iPhone suffers from the same thing that the Mac does… It’s designed for the technically inept. I bought a WM 6.0 handset, because if I want to be able to do something that’s not out there yet, I can write it myself, and in a popular language… like C# as opposed to Objective C - which as I understand it, is what iPhone Apps are written in… Who the hell knows objective C?? Lame.
What da heck is C#? Did you forget a letter after the C? Anyway good for you pale nerd.
It’s coming… iPhone domination! Whoever is still not sold just wait ;)
“Note that these rankings are not directly representative of sales numbers” …
Captain Obvious. Are you there?
They are not representative of sales numbers, they aren’t even representative of true market share..what’s the relevancy?
what about usage in Japan and south korea ? 2 countries where everybody surfes on mobile sites since 6 years at speed we’ll see in Europe & US in 2012 ? no ones has an iphone there, nor a BB or a rzr…this research is focusing on say 10% of the market, completetly overlooking the remaining 90%
Not sure if I’ve understood this correctly but is it only monitoring mobile optimised sites? I use my iPhone mainly on non-mobile sites - sometimes even preferring these to mobile optimised sites available for the same content (google being a classic example).
Looks like the figures would not pick up visits to those kind of sites and I would think that iPhone users have a much higher percentage of selecting “go to real site” than other mobile users.
In other words, understating penetration of the iPhone in many markets.
(I am in UK)
The answer isnt so black and white.
iPhone by its nature has a massively high engagement level and comes with an all you can eat phone contract. Its stats are going to be unusually high for mobile internet access. Nokia is still no. 1 phone seller but not for much longer (2/3 years)
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