InMobi says Verizon iPhone helps close Android gap

InMobi in a surprise showed the iPhone clawing back mobile ad share from Android. Where Apple had just a 23.5 percent share of North American mobile ad traffic in January versus Android's 36.8 percent, Apple has leapt forward almost by half to hit 32.9 percent in April. Android saw a rare plateau at 36.9 percent.

The BlackBerry dropped exactly one point to hit 10.3 percent in the US.

Worldwide, Android was still moving up by 3.3 points and hit 16.8 percent, but all its gains were at the expense of platforms beyond iOS and the BlackBerry. Nokia's S40 and Symbian S60 were still on top at 19.5 and 18.1 percent respectively, but they were declining next to Android as well as the iPhone's 0.4-point increase to 16.3 percent and the BlackBerry's 0.6-point climb to 4.9 percent.

InMobi credited the iPhone leap in the US directly to the Verizon model arriving in February. The carrier's 2.2 million iPhones activated in the first quarter, along with sales in April, were known to have made Apple the most popular smartphone maker on Verizon.

InMobi's data doesn't directly equate to market share but does support NPD data that showed Android slowing down in the US as the iPhone jumped. Despite the iPhone 4 having been several months old, the device still had pent-up demand from customers who had refused to switch to AT&T as well as those who had been switching smartphones, most often from BlackBerry phones or early Android models.

By Electronista Staff

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