Mobile ad network AdMob has released its Mobile Metrics Report for March 2009. The report reveals that growth in requests to the network from devices running the Android and iPhone Operating Systems (OS) continued to outpace other platforms, despite the relatively limited number of devices in market.
The application stores for both platforms have significantly influenced this growth, says AdMob, noting that more than half of Android and iPhone requests in March came from applications. In the first five months following the launch of the Android Market in the US (November 2008 to March 2009), Android requests increased by an average of 47% per month. In the first five months following the launch of the Apple App Store in the US (July 2008 to November 2008), requests from the iPhone increased by an average of 88% per month.
The March report also reveals that the HTC Dream (G1) generated 72 million requests, giving it a 2% share of the overall US market, and making it the number 10 overall device and the number 4 Smartphone, after the iPhone, BlackBerry Curve, and BlackBerry Pearl. The Android OS now has 6 percent of the US Smartphone market and is tied with Palm as the fourth-largest OS. The iPhone generated 8 times more US requests than Android in March, while the iPhone platform in total, including both the iPhone and the iPod touch generated 23 times more requests than Android worldwide.
The comparison of Android to iPhone in the March 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics report is based on requests for AdMob ads on the mobile web and in applications from the HTC Dream (G1) and the iPhone in the US. The launch dates of the two application stores roughly correspond to the launch of AdMobs in-application ad units.
You can access the full March 2009 report, and view archived reports from previous months, here.