Android's advertising potential grows

MOBILE AD BROKER Admob has released figures that show the Android ecosystem is being dominated by a few devices.

The report gives a breakdown, by device, of adverts served by the firm to mobile phones. It showed that almost a third of all ads served to Android devices were delivered to Motorola's Droid handsets. In contrast, Google's Nexus One barely registered in the report, with the firm saying that only two per cent of its ads are shown on the device.

As the number of devices running Google's Android operating system has increased, the firm not only saw a massive jump in the number of ads served, but also an increase in the variety of devices displaying their digital hoardings. The firm served up 72 million ads in March 2009 but, as a testament to Android's growing popularity, that figure has ballooned to 2 billion within a year.

The same 96 per cent of adverts that were served by only two devices, HTC's Dream and Magic, in September 2009 has now given way to 11 devices. Although HTC's Dream is still the third most served handset, the increasing spread of devices shows that Android isn't a one handset flash in the pan, though it is clear that the Droid has managed to get a significant foothold in the market.

Interestingly, the report shows that all three versions of Android have about the same market share, though 1.6, is becoming less popular. As more handset vendors issue updates to the latest version, 2.1, it is likely that both versions 1.5 and 1.6 will drop off the radar.

The fragmentation of the Android platform is starting to decrease thanks to handset manufacturers putting in a concerted effort to get their units running the latest version. Delays have meant that the roll-out is far slower than expected, with HTC publically apologising for the time it has taken the firm to bring Android OS 2.1 to its popular Hero handset.

Perhaps the most surprising metric is that Admob serves 7.4 per cent of all ad requests to handsets in India. That figure is only surpassed in the US, which accounts for almost 46 per cent of all ads served by the firm.

The report doesn't make pleasant reading for Apple, as the firm's Iphone continues to see a drop in the share of ads served. The Iphone saw a 4.1 per cent drop, though still led the pack by some margin. That drop gets bumped up a whole percentage point in Jobs' Mob's primary market, the US, where the Iphone has dropped below 40 per cent and Motorola's Droid is nudging towards the 20 per cent mark.

In Blighty, the Iphone has further to fall with a massive 70 per cent of Admob's ads being served on the fruit themed toymaker's device but nevertheless a 3.1 per cent fall isn't a trend any company wants to see. What's clear to see is that, unlike in the US, there's no single handset that is currently challenging the Iphone. That is likely to change when phones such as SonyEricsson's Xperia X10, HTC's Desire and Google's Nexus One are picked up by mobile operators.

While Admob's figures aren't directly related to market share, given that developers see ads as their main source of revenue from applications, the phones and ultimately the operating system that is serving the most ads becomes the most attractive to develop for. The cycle is completed by the fact that applications, not phones, sell the operating system.

The battle for supremacy in the Android handset market is pretty close, according to Admob, with only a one per cent gap between Motorola and HTC, with the former coming out on top with 44 per cent. Given that a significant chunk of Motorola's share comes from just one device, it is likely to be usurped by HTC, which has recently launched the Desire, Legend and, in the US, the Evo 4G.

The Nexus One, also made by HTC, was the Android party pooper. With an almost insignificant showing on this report, the device, which still has impressive hardware specifications, clearly isn't doing as well as it should. With Google giving up on flogging the handset to Verizon, it is left to see how well its UK parent, Vodafone, does shifting the device. The problem is, HTC's Desire, which offers much the same specifications, can be had for less.

Admob's figures show that Apple's Iphone OS devices are still the top for showing ads, and therefore generating cash for developers. The trend, however, is not rosy for Apple and with almost exponential growth of Android devices, developers must be considering whether it is worth bowing to Steve Jobs' whims. µ