With their debut of the iPhone 4, Apple has reached the top 5 ranked vendors—leaping past Research In Motion and knocking Sony out of their spot. Nokia, however, still hangs tenaciously to their top spot with their sheer market superiority. According to PCMag, the entrance of Apple into the top five could signal a stronger interest in smartphones, which could go well for Apple who have been trying to grow their Location-based iAds network.

“The entrance of Apple to the top five vendor ranking underscores the increased importance of smartphones to the overall market. Moreover, the mobile phone makers that are delivering popular smartphone models are among the fastest growing firms,” Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst, said in a statement. “Vendors that aren’t developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to maintain and grow market share in the future.”

As Apple’s market ranking rises, their iAds network has not been doing so well. A few months ago it had a very poor showing—especially when compared with other mobile advertising networks—and it looks like the general analysis suggested it was Apple’s stranglehold on the reigns doing it.

According to an article at BizReport, ad agencies agree with that assessment from August,

Nearly all agencies surveyed (97%) said clients just aren’t requesting involvement with the iAd mobile ad platform. Perhaps the recent reports of Apple’s controlling attitude towards ad creative have hit a nerve.

“It’s a huge issue having Apple in the creative mix,” said Patrick Moorhead, director of mobile platforms at DraftFCB, an ad agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.

Apple may be clawing their way up the mobile rankings with the iPhone, but businesses are just not looking into Location-based advertising overall; worse, they really don’t want to get in on iAds due to the molasses-slow acceptance period Apple’s gated-community culture places on them. The boost to their marketshare will be what Apple needs to make a better stand against Google Android in the advertising market. According to earlier coverage here at SiliconANGLE, iAds is doing slightly better but not yet quite good enough.

Perhaps, the iAds platform should think about downplaying the location-based aspects, ease up on the creative control, and open up to the female demographic—which seems to be boosting everyone at the moment. After all, if 32% of moms own smartphones and that’s a 60% jump from last year, someone making smartphones must be doing something that they like and it’s about time that they start advertising to them.