Android smartphones gaining ground on iPhones

Apple devices losing some share, Motorola and others inch up

Apple continues to dominate the worldwide and U.S. mobile handset markets with its iPhone and iPod Touch devices, but makers of Android phones are gaining ground. 

This is according to the latest research out of AdMob, a mobile advertising network in the process of being acquired by chief Android proponent Google. AdMob bases its stats on requests for access to the 18,000-plus Websites and applications in its network.

Also read: 5 iPhone apps for managing your money 

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Apple continues to dominate the worldwide and U.S. mobile handset markets with its iPhone and iPod Touch devices, but makers of Android phones are gaining ground. 

This is according to the latest research out of AdMob, a mobile advertising network in the process of being acquired by chief Android proponent Google. AdMob bases its stats on requests for access to the 18,000-plus Websites and applications in its network.

Also read: 5 iPhone apps for managing your money 

Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch accounted for 37% of worldwide device share in March based on traffic, and that's down from 40% in both January and February, back to about the same level as in December. The share dropped from 43% to 38% in the United States.

Meanwhile, Motorola inched up in the U.S. on the strength of its Android-powered Droid smartphone and Nokia showed growth worldwide, based on use of such devices as the N70.

AdMob also took a look at which versions of Apple's iPhone OS are most used and found that most customers don't just sit on their old software since Apple makes most of its software backward compatible. The two newest versions of the OS, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 added up to 86% of traffic (Apple recently previewed Version 4.0, which surprised with its supply of enterprise-friendly features).

iPhone 3GS device traffic share jumped 30% from September to March, whereas the first generation devices accounted for just 2% of the traffic. The 4G device hasn't yet hit the market, though it has generated plenty of buzz because of the wild Gizmodo situation involving a lost prototype. 

The second generation iPod Touch generated more than twice as much traffic as the third-generation product, released in September.

Follow Bob Brown on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alphadoggs

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