Mobile Showdown: Apple vs Android Still The Main Event

The mobile war is so on. Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility for vested intentions, including fighting infringement cases and building its own prototypes and hardware devices, has been all but a warning to large and small competitors alike. Suddenly, a bigger battle looms over the entire industry, with the strongest and fittest determined to survive.

While patent infringements, larger than life mergers and OS developments partake a good portion of the mobile industry, it is also interesting to note how consumers are responding to everything they hear about in the market.  Consumers speak in volume, as their actions show a true picture of what the mobile market is really about.  And despite the ongoing patent wars, acquisitions and OS concerns, a few things remain true–brand loyalty has a place in the mobile industry, and smartphones are still the dominant devices in the marketplace.  July trailblazers soared to greater heights in Millennial Media’s Mobile Mix, tracking the latest industry trends.

 Mobile’s Big Winners for July

Apple: Still unbeatable at the number one post in terms of manufacturing (26.45%) and mobile phones impressions in the Millennial Media network (13.60%), leaving a wide gap for Samsung and RIM—which occupied 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively.  The industry’s favorite handset maker is reportedly gearing up for a new line of Macs, a cheaper iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 anticipated release, in an effort to maintain its number one position with a much diversified product line-up.

Smartphones: all 20 of the top devices in Millennial Media’s network were smartphones in July, and this will most likely be the scenario for the coming months.  They saw 68% share on device impressions, and recorded a 5% growth rate month-over-month.  A recent article noted smartphones’ scope of influence as more and more people use these at home, even when PC’s are around.

Android: with 15% growth month-over-month, Android occupies 16 out of 20 spots for top devices in the OS category.  Android gleams its 8^th month consecutive position for the top smartphone OS with a 61% share of the market.  Perhaps the noisiest mobile brand because of the Google-Motorola union, everything regarding Android seems newsworthy: from its innovating products, to hints on integrating with Google Chrome.  As its popularity rises, however, Android faces more targeted malware attacks, seeking out the most vulnerable of mobile users.

Gaming Apps. Leading the global applications class with 29% share, gaming apps’ growth is fired up at a record pace.  They posted a 35% month-over-month increase, which isn’t surprising given the growing interest in monetizing this highly addictive sector of mobile interaction.  Social networking and music and entertainment trail at 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively, and we see these two categories being integrated into more app offerings as engagement translates into higher monetization opportunities for developers.

Android vs Apple: we meet again

Further digesting the mobile developers’ trend, the Android and Apple match is still the main event.  Arguably, this resulted in a stiffer battle among all above-mentioned categories, when looking at ad spends in the Millennial Media network.  Only 5 points separating the leader from the runner up: 48% go to Android apps, while 43% hail iOS apps.