Google bought AdMob, and Android has been catching on with consumers like a brush fire on a dry midsummer day, but Apple is still holding the reins as far as serving ads to smartphone users goes. That’s according to new data released by Millenial Media, which is now the largest independent mobile ad network.
Millenial used to be number three, but that changed when Google acquired the largest, AdMob, and Apple acquired the second largest, Quattro, which it recently shuttered in favor of its own iAd platform. That means the closest to unbiased numbers regarding mobile ads that we’re likely to get are probably from Millenial.
In July 2010, Apple led the pack with 35 percent of all mobile ad impressions and 55 percent of smartphone ads. Smartphones overall accounted for just about half of all mobile ad impressions, with 49 percent of that pie. Connected devices — including the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP among others — accounted for another 19 percent, while feature phones saw only 32 percent of the ads. It’s yet another sign that the dumb phone is on its way out, at least as a viable means of revenue for advertisers.
In the smartphone arena, Apple’s lead is still quite commanding. The next closest platform in term of ad impressions served is Android, and it accounted for only 19 percent of the smartphone share. Next closest was RIM, with BlackBerry devices seeing 16 percent of all ads. Finally, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile came in a distant fourth with 4 percent. All other platforms combined added up to 6 percent.
The success of Apple’s platform becomes very apparent when you take into consideration how developers are prioritizing ad targeting. Of those targeting multiple platforms, 100 percent are intent on supporting Apple’s iOS. Android is next closest with 75 percent of developers, and RIM is next with only 46 percent. Twenty-nine percent target Symbian, which is still a major player in the Asian market, and 21 percent employ Java. Finally, 17 percent target other platforms, including Windows Mobile.
These numbers reflect the sales success of the iPhone and its various competitors to date, but Android’s ever-expanding reach has the platform poised to takeover that majority share sooner rather than later. I predict a parity between or a reversal of the top two spots, at least in terms of developer support, by this time next year, based on the trajectory of Google’s mobile OS to date and the success of phones like the Droid and its successors.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Report: The In-App Advertising Landscape
Written by Darrell Etherington on August 23rd, 2010 with no comments.
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This is awesome: A Tublr blog with a boatload of screencaps from Apple’s TV ads showing people holding their iPhones the wrong way.
Earlier today, Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4 ‘Death Grip’ was a “non-issue” and people should “Just avoid holding it in that way.”
Which of course is total bullshit, as Apple’s own ads show.
Here’s [...]
Written by Leander Kahney on June 24th, 2010 with no comments.
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Apple knows where you are and plans to put that information to work.
The Cupertino company updated its privacy policy today to disclose that it may now “collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.”
The new terms of service will pop up as a prompt next [...]
Written by Nicole Martinelli on June 21st, 2010 with no comments.
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Perhaps the best iPhone 4 Promo video Apple would never want you to see.
“It’s probably safe to say we invented a new metal.”
[via iPhoneSavior]
Written by Lonnie Lazar on June 18th, 2010 with no comments.
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Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC this year struck me as being particularly unkind to third-party media and analysis sources, and maybe that’s because he’s bitter about the whole Gizmodo iPhone 4 scoop/theft thing that went on. One thing he definitely made clear, he wants statistics coming from vetted sources, not from just any mobile market research firm.
Pursuant to that goal, Apple recently changed the terms of its developer agreement to keep out third-party analytics companies like Flurry who regularly produce reports on market share and the App Store based on data gathered from other advertisers working in the App Store ecosystem.
Here’s the relevant section of the developer agreement, as posted by All Things D:
3.3.9 You and Your Applications may not collect, use, or disclose to any third party, user or device data without prior user consent, and then only under the following conditions:
The collection, use or disclosure is necessary in order to provide a service or function that is directly relevant to the use of the Application. For example, without Apple’s prior written consent, You may not use third party analytics software in Your Application to collect and send device data to a third party for aggregation, processing, or analysis.
The collection, use or disclosure is for the purpose of serving advertising to Your Application; is provided to an independent advertising service provider whose primary business is serving mobile ads (for example, an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple would not qualify as independent); and the disclosure is limited to UDID, user location data, and other data specifically designated by Apple as available for advertising purposes.
Now it shouldn’t shut down all competition, as you can use your advertising stats to sell ad space, but only for that purpose, and only at Apple’s discretion. That’s right, Apple gets final say on whether or not you can share the data you collect through advertising. And the terms are cloudy enough to allow for the prevention of use of these statistics by large companies that also happen to have advertising arms which aren’t their primary business, like, say Google and AdMob.
It’s one thing to try to block out competitors, and that’s a question better left to anti-trust inquiries, but to purposefully try to obfuscate the attempts of third party research and analysis firms in order to better control every aspect of your marketplace, internal and external, is downright discomfiting. One thing’s clear: Apple is nervous about the upcoming war with Google over the mobile market, and it’s doing everything it can to make sure the public can’t interpret that war in a way it finds unflattering.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Why 2010 Still Won’t Be the Year of Mobile Advertising
Written by Darrell Etherington on June 9th, 2010 with no comments.
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