Millennial Media, which claims to be the largest independent mobile advertising network, said in its September 2010 report that “for the first time Android revenue exceeded iPhone-only revenue on our network amidst strong raw iOS impression growth.” Android is the smartphone operating system from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and iOS is the operating system for the iPhone from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
In the mix for smartphone impressions, 46% of impressions were pushed to iPhone, 29% to Android phones, and 19% to Blackberry phones made by Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). Since the beginning of 2010, Android ad requests have grown by 1,283% and iPhone ad requests have grown by 18%.
At yesterday’s earnings release announcement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a few potshots at Google/Android and RIM. Jobs claims that iPhone shipments have now outstripped RIM shipments of Blackberry phones. He also pointed out that the celebrated openness of Android makes if unusually complicated for developers to build and test apps for Android-based devices.
Of course Android’s huge gains as measured by Millennial Media are due largely to the fact that Android-based phones didn’t really hit the market in numbers until early this year. But Jobs’s comments miss the point on mobile advertising.
If Android revenue at Millennial Media has now surpassed iOS revenue, how much more revenue is Google raking in on its own AdMob mobile advertising network? Without hardware of its own, Google has to focus on wringing every possible dollar out of Android, and that means pounding away at mobile advertising revenue. And while Google may not make any revenue from ads displayed on competing mobile advertising networks, it could benefit from a coattail effect from advertisers who place ads with AdMob as well as a third-party network. The same ad runs unchanged on either network. iPhone ads only run on iOS, and the ads themselves have to meet strict Apple guidelines.
Android is all about making money from advertising on mobile devices. iOS is all about truth and beauty. Take your pick.
