While it’s been dawning on us for some time that Android is a beast, each day seems to bring new confirmation that the monster shows no signs of letting up. Android mobile ad impressions drew even with iOS for the first time, according to Millennial Media (PDF). The largest independent ad network said Android OS is tied with iOS with a 37 percent share of ad impressions. That’s a big change from last month, when iOS represented 46 percent of impressions while Android grabbed 29 percent.
The Millennial data came on the same day Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak predicted Android will be the dominant smartphone platform, comparing it to the dominance of Windows.
Last week, consultancy PRTM said Android is helping build a Wintel-like juggernaut with Qualcomm, dubbed Quadroid, that could ultimately weed out some manufacturers. I’m not so sure about that last point, because there seems to be a fair amount of competition still in the processor market, with Texas Instruments and Samsung in the mix, Nvidia still pushing, and Intel pressing to get into the market. The ARM-licensing model means an x86 style domination would be more difficult to maintain. Plus, Android is also more open and customizable than Windows ever was.
But the point is, Android is ascendant by almost every measure, including Millennial’s ad data. The platform last month eclipsed iPhone-only ad revenue, according to Millennial, and now appears poised to leave iOS behind in overall impressions. Android requests have gone up 65 percent month-over-month, and since January, have grown by 2,182 percent. Apple requests are up 12 percent month-over-month and have increased by 32 percent since January. Android impressions should continue to grow, especially as more Android tablets like the Galaxy Tab go on sale. And as Kevin pointed out, cheap Android phones like the LG Optimus are also selling like hotcakes. Smartphones continued to grow overall with 61 percent of all ad impressions, up 3 percent over September.
Symbian showed up for the first time on Millennial’s rankings, garnering 2 percent of ad impressions. Apple still has the most impressions by manufacturer with 25 percent, followed by Samsung (17 percent), Motorola (15 percent) and RIM (13.5 percent). The top device continues to be the iPhone.
Millennial, which reaches over 80 percent of mobile web, decided to start counting connected devices — portable gaming machines, tablets and other portable Internet devices — enabling the iPod Touch to jump into third place while the iPad came in ninth.