Apple rules mobile ads

Google’s Android may be king of the mobile operating systems, but Apple’s iOS, which runs the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, rules the mobile advertising roost, boosted by the March debut of the third generation iPad.

In Q1 2012, 36.8% of North American mobile ad impressions—when a display advertisement is served on a mobile web or app page—occurred on iOS devices, up 3.7 percentage points from 33.1% in Q4 2011, reports mobile ad network InMobi. 34.1% occurred on Android devices, up 1.6 percentage points from 32.5%; and 7.3% on BlackBerry devices, down 4.6 percentage points from 11.9%. The remaining impressions occurred on devices running a variety of mobile operating systems with very small market shares. From January 1 to March 31, the number of mobile ad impressions InMobi served grew by 18% to 93.4 billion, the company reports. Android topped smartphone market share at 50.1%, according to web and mobile measurement firm comScore. Apple iOS came in second with 30.2%, BlackBerry 13.4%, Microsoft Windows Phone 3.9%, Symbian 1.5% and other 0.9%. Yet Apple wins again in mobile ads when InMobi breaks down impressions served to specific devices, highlighting the strength of the Apple brand, InMobi says. Following are the percentages of mobile ad impressions for Q1 2012 for the leading devices: iPhone, 19.7%; iPod Touch, 12.2%; iPad, 4.9%; BlackBerry 8520, 1.9%; and HTC PC36100, which runs Android, 1.8%.