14 DAY TRIAL // A newly published study shows that smartphones, especially those that feature touchscreen displays, are being used more and more in the mobile advertising world. According to the study, in February 2009, about 33 percent of the mobile advertisement requests were made by smartphones, registering growth from the 26 percent seen a month before.
According to AdMob’s monthly Mobile Metrics Report, touchscreen smartphones such as the BlackBerry Storm and T-Mobile G1 were placed first when it came to BlackBerry and Android OS platforms. At the same time, the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Instinct were leaders in the AT&T and Sprint segment, which shows clearly that the popularity of touchscreen devices has started to rise.
In the United States, the iPhone was the leading handset for mobile ads, while the BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Centro, and T-Mobile HTC G1 followed the trail. At the same time, the device is also reported to have accounted for a third of the mobile ads sent to smartphones on a global basis in February this year, as well as for 50 percent of the ads sent in the US. Google's Android OS managed to account only for 5 percent of the mobile ads in the world.
Undoubtedly, the iPhone is placed first when it comes to global advertising traffic. The device has the top position on mobile advertising volume as well, where it is followed by the Nokia N70, BlackBerry 8300, Nokia N80 and Nokia N73.
The focus on smartphones is continuously growing, and we should expect to be able to see touchscreen-capable devices taking the lead in the mobile web and advertising consumption. At the same time, it seems that advertising businesses are working in the direction of engaging potential customers with interactive touch-based adverts, and the result will probably be an even larger number of touch-optimized mobile ads.