The smartphone wars, one year later

It's been a year since Google released Android OS, the open-source smartphone operating system widely perceived as the most likely to overtake Apple's iPhone in the long run. As it happens, Google this month also purchased AdMob, the world's largest purveyor of mobile phone advertising. So this seemed as good a time as any to take a snapshot of the changing smartphone marketplace, as measured by ad requests to AdMob's network. Over the past year, Nokia's Symbian has lost the largest raw market share, down to 25% last month from 59% the same month a year earlier. In percentage terms, Windows Mobile is the biggest loser, down 70% in 12 months, with Symbian, Palm's Web OS and BlackBerry OS close behind. These numbers are based on worldwide ad requests. Apple's lead is even greater when AdMob zeroes in on the U.S. and U.K. markets.