Today is the one year anniversary of the Android Operating System and based on what we’ve seen its future is bright. From strong Android usage on our network, to Eric Schmidt’s positive comments, to the increased marketing muscle placed into Android campaigns, all signs are pointing towards strong growth in the coming months.
Android has been a big hit in the US and accounted for 17% of smartphone traffic in AdMob’s network in September 2009, up from 13% in August. We have seen an acceleration in Android growth over the last 3 months, likely due to the launch of the HTC Magic (myTouch). In AdMob’s network, the HTC Dream (G1) was the number 3 device in September in the US, trailing only the iPhone and iPod touch with the HTC Magic jumping to number 10. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob’s network comes from applications. AdMob released its Android SDK in January 2009.
With 12 Android phones already available through 32 carriers in 26 countries, the international impact of Android may be greater than it is in the US. Currently, the vast majority of our Android traffic comes from HTC handsets, although we expect this will change soon.
There is also huge marketing muscle behind Android now. Verizon, who has been aching for a handset to combat the iPhone, launched the much discussed Droid campaign this past weekend. Motorola is betting the house on Android and investing significantly in the CLIQ and MOTO BLUR functionality. Enter a T-Mobile store and the myTouch is promoted everywhere, from the devices to the signage to the accessory wall. No doubt that this will be a huge holiday season for Android devices in the US.
Although not quite up to App Store standards, Google has been successful at attracting the developer community with more than 10,000 applications currently available in the market. Our survey of iPhone and Android users suggests that Android users exhibit similar usage characteristics to iPhone users and download similar numbers of apps each month.
However, our survey also found that far fewer Android users regularly download paid apps from the Android market than iPhone users from the App Store. One factor is that while an iTunes account with credit card is required for all iPhone and iPod touch users, not all Android users are required to have Google Checkout. Also, many of the brand and more experienced developers decided to released apps on the iPhone platform first given the much larger reach of the platform. However, the developers we talk to all realize the potential of the Android platform and are watching it develop closely.
These are certainly exciting times – we look forward to supporting the explosion of mobile web and application growth wherever it is in the future.
Mike F
Product Marketing
October 22nd, 2009 - 7:43 pm
[...] advertising firm, AdMob has interesting numbers about Android’s first year as a mobile [...]
October 26th, 2009 - 12:01 pm
[...] in 26 countries, the international impact of Android may be greater than it is in the U.S.,” AdMob said on its official blog. About 10,000 apps are available for the Android platform vs. 85,000 for Apple’s iPhone OS. [...]
October 26th, 2009 - 7:45 pm
[...] a blog post of the same name, AdMob has declared they are getting bullish about the Android OS. In September, AdMob saw its impressions from Android powered phones jump to 17 percent from the 13 [...]
October 26th, 2009 - 9:54 pm
[...] Con 12 teléfonos Android ya disponible a través de 32 compañías en 26 países, el impacto internacional de Android puede ser mayor que en los EE.UU. [...]
October 27th, 2009 - 12:49 am
[...] 系统9月份产生的数据流量占所有智能手机总流量的17%，比上个月提升了4%。他们的官方 Blog 里说“目前已经有12款 Android 手机工作于26个国家的32个运营商。Android [...]
October 27th, 2009 - 5:43 pm
[...] Por otro lado AdMob, que sirve de publicidad dentro de las aplicaciones móviles, señaló que recientemente el sistema operativo Android representó el 17 por ciento de todo el tráfico de smartphones dentro de su red en septiembre, frente a un 13 por ciento en agosto. Con 12 teléfonos Android ya disponible a través de 32 compañías en 26 países, el impacto internacional de Android puede ser mayor que en los EE.UU. [...]
October 29th, 2009 - 6:01 pm
[...] Schmidt recently declared, “Android adoption is about to explode.” Also, AdMob noted on an earlier blog entry that there are already 12 Android phones already available through 32 carriers in 26 countries. By [...]
October 29th, 2009 - 7:55 pm
[...] Schmidt recently declared, “Android adoption is about to explode.” Also, AdMob noted on an earlier blog entry that there are already 12 Android phones available through 32 carriers in 26 countries. By the time [...]
October 29th, 2009 - 8:05 pm
[...] Schmidt recently declared, “Android adoption is about to explode.” Also, AdMob noted on an earlier blog entry that there are already 12 Android phones available through 32 carriers in 26 countries. By the time [...]