Velti Report Shows Android Market Share Fell To 37% In 2012

Velti (NASDAQ: VELT), the leading global provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology, today released its 'State of Mobile Advertising 2012: Year in Review’ data report. The report highlights key mobile trends in 2012, including insight into iOS’ market dominance and the growing international opportunity in developing markets.

Velti’s report shows Apple regained market dominance after falling behind to Android in 2011. This year, Android’s market share closed at 37 percent, compared to 53 percent in 2011. Contributing factors include the popularity of the iPad Mini and iPhone 5, as well as increasing affordability of the iPod Touch and iPhone 4S. In fact, new iOS devices released in 2012 had the strongest influence on changes in mobile use and impressions:

• The iPad Mini saw more total impressions in November 2012 than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 did in the entire year – 20 times more.
• Although the Samsung Galaxy S3 was released at the end of May 2012, the iPhone 5, released in mid-September 2012, has already caught up to the Samsung Galaxy S3 in impression share. The iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3 each held 50 percent of impression share, respectively, by the end of November.
• Despite having the largest mobile carrier share in China, China Mobile has a much smaller share of impressions than China Unicom (5 percent and 11 percent, respectively). This is most likely due to the fact that China Mobile does not carry the iPhone.

“Looking back at 2012, we really see Apple’s powerful influence over the mobile app landscape,” said Krishna Subramanian, CMO of Velti. “A great example is China Mobile: despite the fact that it is the biggest carrier in China, without the iPhone it has low overall mobile app ad penetration, and advertisers in this market do not have the ability to reach consumers in large volumes. This is incredibly valuable insight for marketers and brands. At the end of 2012, iOS devices held a 63 percent share of the market—so we know that Apple holds the key to reaching consumers.”