According to IDC, Google now enjoys a significant lead in mobile advertising, with a market share of 59 percent, including search and display advertising. Apple’s market share is 8.4 percent, and Millennial Media is at 6.8 percent. For mobile Internet display ads, however, Google and Apple are tied at 19 percent market share each (Millennial Media comes in at 15 percent). Google owns mobile search advertising, with an ad revenue market share of 91.4 percent. IDC research vice president of digital media and entertainment Karsten Weide says that market growth this year was 146 percent. He also revealed that search advertising dominates the mobile ad marketplace, with display much more fragmented. Total U.S. mobile online ad spending for 2010, including search and display advertising, will be an estimated $877.2 million.
Google now activates 300,000 new Android-based mobile devices every day. In August, the company announced that it was activating 200,000 such devices each day. Gartner released a study that 25.5 percent of all the smart phones globally are based on the Android operating system, a huge leap upward from 3.5 percent penetration one year ago. An IDC study also showed that the Android OS is on track to become Europe's top smart phone platform next year, surpassing Symbian and Apple's iOS.
Another study, by Arieso, revealed that Android-based smart phone users use more data than either iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS users. The study cited users of Samsung Galaxy, who upload 126 percent more data than iPhone3G users, and users of HTC Desire, who download 41 percent more data than iPhone3G users.
