A freshly issued market analysis from mobile ad vendor AdMob raises some interesting questions about how the burgeoning smartphone sector is evolving, both here and around the world.
AdMob serves advertising to more than 6,000 websites, and it collects statistics about every mobile device that serves up one of its banners. While this measurement method isn't perfect, overweighting certain geographical regions, it should give a reasonably accurate picture of how people are using those fancy everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink smartphones to access the Internet today.
According to this data, Nokia
The Android smartphone platform, blessed by Google
The Research In Motion
By contrast, 12% of Microsoft's
It's hard to tell from AdMob's data whether the varying phones just offer a more user-friendly online experience than their competitors, or if they simply outsold the competition. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. What works for mobile data surfers today should be an indication of what they might want tomorrow. Based on this report, I'd take a long, hard look at Nokia for its foreign strengths, at RIM and Apple for their domestic dominance, and at companies with a finger in the Android pie, like Google.
The smartphone market ain't dead. In fact, it's still a mere toddler. There's plenty of growth ahead.
Further Foolishness: