Research

Android is the fastest growing OS; neck-and-neck with iPhone in US

So says AdMob figures for February 2010

Android is the fastest growing OS; neck-and-neck with iPhone in US
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| AdMob news

The latest monthly mobile metrics report from AdMob paints the picture of a dominant Apple, with iPhone mopping up more than double the market share of its nearest rival worldwide.

That's according to the firm's smartphone statistics; iPhone OS taking 50 percent of the worldwide market in February.

Growing Google

Android is the second biggest player with 24 percent.

AdMob claims this makes Google's OS the fastest growing operating system on its network year-on-year, its share rising by 22 percent from the 2 percent polled back in February 2009.

When it comes to standard mobiles, however, the market is dominated by Samsung and Nokia, the two firms accounting for 56 percent of the market between them.

Market in transition

AdMob publishes the mobile metric report to measure mobile web and app usage from more than 15,000 websites and applications.

Its data suggests consumers worldwide are continuing to switch from standard mobile handsets – or 'feature phones' as AdMob calls them – to the growing array of smartphones on the market.

As such, feature phones declined from 58 percent to 35 percent of AdMob's total traffic in the latest report, smartphones up from 35 percent in February 2009 to 48 percent last month.

Mobile internet device traffic – 93 percent of which is attributed to iPod touch – saw the greatest rise of all three categories, however. AdMob claims it now accounts for 17 percent of all traffic on the AdMob network.

Super Symbian

But while the continued growth of smartphones is a given, it's the territorial differences between the handsets consumers are opting for that offers most interest.

iPhone controls 74 percent of the smartphone market in the UK, but the wealth spread more evenly in the US where Android is close to overtaking Apple's market leading 44 percent share on 42 percent. No doubt thanks to Droid's success.

However, in Indonesia, India and South Africa, Symbian rules the roost, taking 93 percent, 91 percent and 81 percent of the market respectively.

Indeed, Nokia accounts for 27 of the 30 most popular smartphone handsets in these three countries combined.

Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.