Apple still dominant in US but losing mobile ad share to RIM and Android

Apple remains the dominant force in smartphone ad requests, according to the April statistics released by Millennial Media, but both RIM and Android are beginning to make serious inroads on its share.

As reported by the firm in its latest Mobile Mix report, which focuses on device, OS and carrier share, iPhone and iPod touch accounted for 62 percent of all ad impressions on Millennial's mobile network in April.

That places it comfortably ahead of RIM in second place on 17 percent, but nonetheless represents a fall of 8 percent based on March's numbers.

RIM itself is up 3 percent, having held onto second position for the ninth month running.

It is Android, however, that appears to have the most momentum, with its share rising by 5 percent to firmly consolidate its third position.

"There were some interesting trends in mobile ad requests across Android, as well as RIM and Palm in April," says Millennial Media's SVP of marketing Erin McKelvey.

"Apple continues to generate the largest amount of smartphone requests, but RIM now has five devices in our top 20 mobile phone list, and Android devices are showing up faster than anticipated."

Millennial also reports Android ad requests have grown 77 percent month over month, having shot up 282 percent in total since January.

Apple remains the top manufacturer according to Millennial's statistics, having held that position since September last year.

However, its share of ad impressions has fallen a touch, down 5 percent to 35 percent in April.

Android's surge has also benefited its partner OEMs, with HTC taking a top five spot for the first time on just under 6 percent of all ad impressions across the month.

Millennial Media reports all Android devices in fact enjoyed month-on-month increases in impressions shares.

Millennial says it enjoys the largest mobile media audience in the US, according to the IDC, reaching 83 percent of mobile users.

[source: Millennial Media]