China now leading source of iOS, Android activations

China could soon be the most important mobile market in the world. Not only did the country become the leading source of iOS and Android device activations in the first quarter of 2012, according to new research from Flurry, but it could enjoy the world’s largest installed base of mobile users before too long.

Flurry’s data -- gathered from the analytics software that its clients install in their apps -- shows that China accounted for more iOS and Android device activations than the U.S. for the first time in February. Around 24 percent of activations running either of those operating systems in March are expected to come from China, according to projections for the month, while 21 percent of activations will come from the US.