Apple iPhone eats up 50% share of all mobile data traffic globally

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's slice of mobile data traffic has grown to now exceed 50% share in the US, UK and in global figures, according to the latest monthly mobile data traffic report by AdMob.



AdMob just released its first monthly mobile ad trends report following its acquisition by Google earlier this month. Despite Apple's lead in rank and growth, the new report now focuses much of its attention on Google's third place Android and RIM's fourth ranking BlackBerry.



The new report also comments on second place Symbian and the fifth place Windows Mobile, without making any detailed comments about the iPhone and iPod touch at all.



Global changes from September



In the worldwide market, AdMob notes that Apple advanced its lead in smartphone traffic share from 43% last month to an even 50%. Symbian slipped from 29% to 25%, while third place Android grew from 10% to 11%. RIM's share fell slightly from 8% to 7%, Windows Mobile dropped from 5% to 3%.



Octobers' worldwide figures for hardware manufactures closely reflected those platform numbers; Apple's hardware numbers as the only iPhone vendor are identical at 50%, while Nokia phones represented nearly all of the Symbian traffic, and HTC accounted for almost all of the Android and Windows Mobile share. RIM and Palm also act as the exclusive providers of their own platforms as well.



This indicates that actual smartphone use is closely tied to the top four hardware vendors and their respective software platforms, erasing the conventional idea that a large number of significant hardware manufacturers are behind licensed platforms such as Symbian, Android, and Windows Mobile.







US and UK markets



The same trend is visible in the US and UK markets. In the US, AdMob reports that Apple advanced by 7.2% from 48% to 55% of all mobile traffic, while Android grew from 17% to 20% (almost entirely from sales of HTC models). RIM slipped slightly from 14% to 12%, while an initial surge of traffic by Palm Pre WebOS users collapsed from 10% to just 5% in October.



The race in the US is between Apple, HTC, RIM and Palm, with incremental advancement for Apple and HTC at the expense of other smaller manufacturers and platforms, which all lost share apart from RIM, which remained stagnant. Symbian does not even register as a blip in the US market.



In the UK, Apple's share grew even larger, advancing from 71% in September to a commanding 74% share in October. Symbian and Android both slipped a percentage point, from 12% and 11% in the previous report to 11% and 10% in October, respectively.



Focus on fractionalization



To keep things interesting, AdMob virtually ignored the iPhone in its October report to examine the model distribution within the BlackBerry and Android platforms. It found that among BlackBerry users, 63% of all traffic was connected to the Curve, Bold and Tour models, which are all conventional BlackBerry devices with full keyboards.



The Pearl, a more compact Nokia-style model aimed at consumers, ate up 16% of the BlackBerry pie, while the Storm, a full screen model aimed at the iPhone, amounted to just 12% of RIM's data traffic.



This indicates that BlackBerry users are, unsurprisingly, flocking to conventional BlackBerry devices and not to RIM's effort to clone the iPhone. RIM itself does not break out its sales between models, so AdMob's statistics are an interesting peek into what devices the company is actually selling and which its users are actually using.



AdMob also similarly detailed the Android platform, which in October was still almost exclusively dominated by HTC phones. Since the Android phones on the market are currently Windows Mobile devices adapted to run the alternative OS, HTC has enjoyed a first mover advantage in being able to deliver the first couple generations of Android phones, starting with the Dream (T-Mobile G1), then the Magic (T-Mobile myTouch), and the third generation Hero (Verizon's Droid Eris).



Motorola recently threw its hat in the ring with the CLIQ and Milestone (Verizon Droid), which was launched in the first week of November. AdMob included a mid-November look at Android traffic, which shows that the Droid captured 24% of all traffic within a couple weeks of being on sale. Whether Motorola will overshadow HTC, cannibalize its sales, or grow alongside it remains to be seen. It's less likely the Android bubble will pop the way WebOS did over the last month, since Verizon is locking its Droid buyers into contracts with steep $350 termination fees.



However, Android software authors will need to consider whether to invest in creating software that targets the unique features of the Droid (including its much higher resolution screen and different operation system version) as opposed to aiming at the much wider HTC market.



AdMob's statistics indicate that the promised "18 Android phones by the end of 2009" probably won't show up as significant shares of the Android platform, but next year promises to add a variety of other flavor differentiation to the Android pie, including Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X10, which has the Droid's screen resolution but which uses the older operating system version of HTC phones.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 54
    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.
  • Reply 2 of 54
    I eat up about 700 megs a month.
  • Reply 3 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.





    Right! Given their current market share in the mobile space, am I the only one who thinks Apple has a golden opportunity to create their own Ad Service like AdMob?

    Obviously, Google is increasingly competing with Apple on the mobile landscape so why allow them to own all the ad revenues from your own device?

    Furthermore, it is in Google's interest to use AdMob to advance Android, not the iPhone.
  • Reply 4 of 54
    And these numbers don't even include iPod Touch users.
  • Reply 5 of 54
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    AT&Twill datacap the iPhone next. If that happens, I'm out.
  • Reply 6 of 54
    There is nothing better out there. iPhone is a portable computer, the best ever.
  • Reply 7 of 54
    delete
  • Reply 8 of 54
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.



    Seriously you really think AdMob is lying? Now I've heard evrything on here.
  • Reply 9 of 54
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    delete



    If you go over then how are you charged? That sounds reasonable though.
  • Reply 10 of 54
    samabsamab Posts: 1,953member
    This shows how the recent news about France going multi-carrier with the iphone and seen market share going to 40% of smartphones in France --- totally bogus.



    If the iphone is having a 40% market share in France --- then their traffic would be near 100%.
  • Reply 11 of 54
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Any stats on browser engine type? Between iPhone, Symbian, Android and BB OSes it looks like the top 4 are dominated by WebKit based browsers, though I know Symbian has other options available.
  • Reply 12 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.



    didn't they just buy it a couple weeks ago?
  • Reply 13 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by samab View Post


    This shows how the recent news about France going multi-carrier with the iphone and seen market share going to 40% of smartphones in France --- totally bogus.



    If the iphone is having a 40% market share in France --- then their traffic would be near 100%.



    What is your basis for assuming that mobile internet browsing habits are the same everywhere? Do you have any data to back it up? Perhaps non-iPhone smartphone users in France browse proportionally more than their US counterparts? Or, iPhone users, less?
  • Reply 14 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.



    Nah. They've got to be very careful with something like that. The credibility of the company on all data that it provides -- and Google is nothing if not a data provider -- will be suspect in such an event, which will destroy them. Moreover, agencies like the SEC, the FTC etc will go after them.



    Indeed, they're going to have to bend over backwards to appear fair to their competitors when putting out data like this.
  • Reply 15 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ensign Pulver View Post


    And these numbers don't even include iPod Touch users.



    Wi-fi doesn't count in this measurement I guess.
  • Reply 16 of 54
    samabsamab Posts: 1,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    What is your basis for assuming that mobile internet browsing habits are the same everywhere? Do you have any data to back it up? Perhaps non-iPhone smartphone users in France browse proportionally more than their US counterparts? Or, iPhone users, less?



    As you said it --- the rest of the world is point in one direction. If you want to challenge that, you are going to have to provide data to back your claims up.
  • Reply 17 of 54
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Magic_Al View Post


    Wi-fi doesn't count in this measurement I guess.



    In some ways it should as AT&T needs to provide WiFI to steer people off their overchallenged 3G network i.e. Starbucks and McDonalds.
  • Reply 18 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Google releasing AdMob figures . . . when they own AdMob and Android.



    Might be time to look for some other source.



    Would we be looking for another source had Apple purchased AdMob or would you feel equally skeptical using AdMob as a means of measuring global mobile data traffic?
  • Reply 19 of 54
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Nah. They've got to be very careful with something like that. The credibility of the company on all data that it provides -- and Google is nothing if not a data provider -- will be suspect in such an event, which will destroy them. Moreover, agencies like the SEC, the FTC etc will go after them.



    Indeed, they're going to have to bend over backwards to appear fair to their competitors when putting out data like this.



    I wonder if using their main web page and first three pages of their PDF report to go into granular detail on the fortunes of Android and RIM, complete with nice big pie charts and some narrative cheerleading, while relegating Apple to an unremarked and much reduced status on subsequent PDF pages (this despite the fact that one would think that a 50% global traffic share might inspire a passing mention by a mobile ad tracking company) counts as "bending over backward."
  • Reply 20 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by samab View Post


    As you said it --- the rest of the world is point in one direction. If you want to challenge that, you are going to have to provide data to back your claims up.



    France = Rest of the World?! You must be French!
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