Things are changing in the world of smartphones, according to the October Mobile Metrics Report from AdMob. The organization, which is in the process of being acquired by Google, traced the operating systems and handsets running on devices served by its network, said Nicole Leverich, the company's director of corporate communications.
The AdMob network, she said, serves ads and applications for more than 15,000 web sites around the world.
RIM Stays Steady
Among BlackBerrys, the firm found that the lion's share of Research in Motion's traffic is still generated by older BlackBerry Curve 8300 and Pearl 8100 series. Newer devices, such as the BlackBerry Tour and updated versions of the Curve 8900 and 8520, are increasing usage on the network.
The BlackBerry Storm generated 12 percent of requests, a constant measure during the past year. Newer BlackBerry devices like the 8220 and 8230 Flip -- RIM assigns numbers to devices based on the carrier, Leverich said -- constituted less than two percent of RIM traffic in October.
Android Moving Ahead
Leverich said Android's progress was also assessed in the October report. This is particularly timely because of the recent release of several Android-based phones, most notably Motorola's Droid. "It was put out mid-month," she said. "We did a quick snapshot and found that on Nov. 18, 24 percent of [smartphone] traffic was from Android on our network. So [the Droid] had an immediate impact."
While Android and RIM products are competitive, the champ continues to be Apple. AdMob said the iPhone and the iPod touch count for half of all smartphone traffic. If feature phones -- the category below smartphones but above traditional cell phones -- are mixed in, Apple's devices still claim a healthy 32 percent of the traffic.
Two Approaches
Aside from the raw numbers, the interesting element of the report in Leverich's eyes was how the game is heating up -- and the fact that two approaches are being used.
"The smartphone and their OSes have gotten more competitive in the last year," Leverich said. "There are two approaches being taken. One is companies that create the operating system and all the devices. That's what RIM, Apple and Palm do. The other is to create the OS and let any device manufacturer use it. That is the approach taken by Android and Windows Mobile. To us, using RIM and Android as proxies and looking at what the impact is was an interesting endeavor."
AdMob doesn't draw conclusions on which approach is better. "It's a question we've heard from a lot of people in the industry," she said. "We put it out there and say, 'Here's what's happening.' We see that both are finding success and are not saying that one is better than another."
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