AdMob, the world’s leading mobile advertising marketplace has revealed that the number of mobile iternet users with Apple iPhones has continued to gush in recent months. According to AdMob it has served some 249 million advertisements to iPhone users since releasing special ad units for the device July 2007. 51.8 million iPhone ads were served last month alone, a 32% increase from 39.1 million in May. Apple iphones provides huge oppurtunity for mobile advertising market.
With the 34 million ad views in June, US remains a leading source of iphone traffic. Other major markets include the Philippines, Britain, and France. Several major brands, including Land Rover, Jaguar, and Fox have already purchased mobile ads specifically targeting iPhone users.
“The usage patterns on next generation devices are terrifically exciting,” commented AdMob CEO, Omar Hamoui. “We served nearly a quarter-billion ads on the iPhone in its first year in the market. We expect that the iPhone and devices like it will be an enormous catalyst for the mobile media business” he further added.
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Apple Inc seems in no hurry to make deal with operators to sell the nifty device in these huge markets officially.But Unauthorised sales of unlocked iPhones in Russia and China are flourishing.China and Russia is a home to almost half the world’s mobile users yet they are not considered.Operators of those countries are reluctant to hand over the part of their iphone related revenues to Apple. A model Apple succeeded in imposing in early deals it made with carriers in other countries, who got exclusive sales rights in returns.
Talks between Apple and China Mobile, the country’s top mobile operator, stalled for that reason. China Mobile says Apple has now dropped its insistence on revenue-sharing but still has no timetable for a launch.
“Right or wrong, Apple needs to show good sales volumes. Russia is extremely profitable for it, all the more so because an iPhone shipped from the U.S. market is not serviced under warranty. That saves Apple around $70 per unit,” said an analyst at Mobile Research Group in Moscow. Others say Apple is losing out.
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Belgians are finally getting the chance to buy one of Apple’s coveted iPhones, at the highest prices in the world.
An Associated Press report also said the 8-gigabyte iPhone will retail for €525 euros (US$825), more than four times the US price of €126 (US$199).
The 16-gigabyte version costs €615 (US$966). The same phone would cost €190 (US$299) in the US.
Belgian Enterprise Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne blamed a local law that forbids companies subsidizing one product by charging more for something else, the Associated Press report said.
He said he will try to scrap this rule in September because it stops phone operators from selling handsets inexpensively along with fixed service contracts, as is common elsewhere. For instance, Dutch customers over the border can pay just €1 (US$1.57) for an iPhone if they pick a contract with operator T-Mobile.
The Belgian iPhone carrier, Mobistar, claims it isn’t worried that high prices will deter customers. It is expecting lines at stores in Brussels when the phones go on sale Friday.
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Worldwide sales of mobile phones surpassed 1.15 billion units in 2007, according to market research firm Gartner. The company also said that three new companies entered the top ten in sales for the first time including Apple with its iPhone.
Apple was joined in the top ten by ZTE and Research in Motion with its popular BlackBerry device.
Nokia is leading the way in mobile phone sales with a 37.8 percent market share, followed by Motorola (14.3 percent), Samsung (13.4 percent), Sony Ericsson (8.8 percent) and LG (6.8 percent). Total worldwide phone sales increased by 16 percent from 2006, according to Gartner.
While 2007 was a good year for mobile phone-makers, the same does not hold true for 2008’s outlook. “After another strong year, we expect the growth in sales of mobile devices to end users will decelerate in 2008 and fall to about 10 per cent growth as mature markets become more saturated,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner.
Apple introduced the iPhone last June and has sold over 4 million units since, including 2.3 million units in the last quarter alone.
At the Goldman Sachs investor conference earlier this week, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, said the company is confident it will make its goal of selling 10 million phones by the end of 2008. Cook also said that Apple is not married to the single carrier model of selling iPhones, although that is the strategy the company has adopted to this point.
Apple is holding a special event in Cupertino, Calif. next week where it will unveil a new software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, which will allow third-party developers to write applications for the device. This will take away one major complaint from consumers of not having the option to install applications on the iPhone.
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51.8mln ads served to iphone users (US)
