Love it or hate it, one has to admit that Apple’s iPhone has been quite a game changer forcing the wireless industry to get off its duff and start innovating. I think a lot of people forget that iPhone is not just a pretty face and sleek curves. Instead it is a device that is changing our behavior and the expectations we have of mobile devices. Most observations about iPhone have been personal and anecdotal.
Today, however, I got a chance to skim through a report put together by San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile advertising startup AdMob, about iPhone user behavior — both in the United States and worldwide — that provides metrics to match some of the theories around iPhone. Clearly, these numbers are not an absolute reflection of iPhone usage, but they do seem to indicative of broader iPhone trends. (Full report embedded below the fold.)
Might that report be available to the public? I looked on AdMob’s site and wasn’t able to locate it. You have a link handy? Thanks.
saadiq,
you ask and i deliver 🙂
Hi,
is it little bit overstatement that iPhone is a game changer? There is nothing new in iPhone exept ability to scale pic using two fingers. Woohoo. There has been more advanced devices already years available. For example Nokia N95 and NB00. I’m writing this with my E61i.
Torr,
I would say that it is a game changer: User Interface, design, screen expectations, software expectations and of course web surfing expectations. I am an e61i user myself, but from a consumer perspective, iPhone is a game changer. Look at the number of people who are using it and surfing the web on it.
India is the 2nd largest market for this company. This inspite of the fact that we dont have 3G or wifi . We have to use the crap called GPRS to use the web. But it does show that India is now a market that you ignore at your own peril. Iphone is coming to India in end of 2008 and Apple has rightfully tied up with the 2 biggest operators – Airtel & Vodafone, rather than having exclusivity.
Torr, you forgot the non-replaceable battery. 🙂
Hi Om and all,
Full disclosure, I am VP Marketing at AdMob.
To Saadiq’s question, our monthly report is free to all and available at http://www.admob.com/metrics. We have every report since September (first instance) archived and downloadable on the site as well. We derive the data from our ad serving business which allows us to aggregate it and provide it to the marketplace for free.
One clarification to Sidharth’s comment. The AdMob Network serves ads on all mobile devices. We have seen the iPhone grow as a % of traffic in many markets, but it still represents only 0.8% of AdMob Monthly ads served (iPhone = 22,324,375 in April).
We believe that the iPhone is important as an example of where the mobile experience can go. It is worth noting that the experience on mass market devices has improved dramatically in recent years. The report shows the growth of manufacturers and handsets by market to help track these trends.
Please provide us feedback on the report at metrics@admob.com. Thanks.
Jason Spero
VP Marketing, AdMob
Part of the issue is that the iphone is hitting more than targeted mobile web sites – its hitting general purpose, non-WAP non-optimized web sites.
Jason Spero,
Perhaps I’m confused. If I read AdMob’s site correctly, AdMob “allows advertisers to reach their customers on the mobile Web and publishers to increase the value of their mobile sites.” Therefore, your advertising solution is designed and aimed toward crippled mobile browers. Most of the devices in your study, particularly your top devices, are automatically directed to mobile versions of websites. This is far from true with the iPhone. In fact, the mobile web is what mobile Safari aims to avoid.
I have never intentionally viewed a mobile website from my iPhone. When I am directed to a mobile version, a rare occurrence these days, I close it or find a link to the full site. Don’t get me wrong – I see plenty of advertising, but it is from companies such as Google, AdBrite, LinkShare, etc. Companies that target full-fledged websites.
In my opinion, AdMob is incapable of understanding its target audience and devices. By failing to point out the significant flaw in the metrics on your report, you do a disservice to your customers.
Initial brilliant positioning by Steve Jobs of the iPhone as neither fish(consumer) nor fowl (enterprise) and probably both, has now, it appears, found a pathway to corporate/enterprise users as a possible smartphone with the m: metrics stat on the OS, (OS being the necessary* element to be categorized as a smartphone; Sufficiency* ,condition is met equally by the display (cool/ navigation)and by the input interface (interactivity)) ….now the impending turf warfare with RIM’s BlackBerry (just released Bold) could thus pivot on Apple’s new input interface that is as good as its navigational interface (haptics/tactile suspected for June ’08, and more ?) and RIM’s move in the other direction: that of the consumer.
Om, do you (or anyone else; hello ATT&T?) have any stats on outgoing emails and text messages from the iPhone compared to the BlackBerry ?
{*It is necessary to have a womb and sufficient to have x # of cells from the man & the woman to conceive , but it is required that both necessary and sufficiency conditions be met to have a natural born baby.}