Android grabs North American buyers while iPhone is more global

AdMob, soon to be owned by Google, has released its latest report on the smartphone industry. The figures are amazing. Google says it is activating 100,000 Google phones a day. To grasp what this means, consider that Yankee Stadium holds about 50,000 fans (and no iPads). Picture a sold out ballpark and multiply it by 2. That is the number of people turning on to Android daily. The Apple iPhone has some amazing stats, too. Over the last 3 years, AdMob says that the Cupertino based firm has sold 85 million iPhones and iPod touch units. Current figures show a geographical difference in demand. 75% of Android usage is in the U.S. compared to 49% in the same area for iPhone OS devices (Now would be a great time to point out that these numbers are based on the large number of devices that have contact with the AdMob network and while it might be reflective of  the actual figures, the stats are not based on the entire smartphone universe).

Let's compare phones to phones. In the U.S., 10.7 million iPhones have been sold vs. 8.7 million Android handsets. Worldwide, the respective numbers are 27.4 million vs. 11.6 million. In the U.S., we have seen not only a wide acceptance of the Android platform, but we are bombarded almost daily with new models. For whatever reason, overseas the Android platform has not had the momentum it enjoys in the States. Now that the HTC Desire's superphone specs are available overseas and some Android 2.1 models are expected to eventually get the Froyo update, we could see some gap reducing pick up on the part of the green robot-at least until the next generation of iPhone is launched outside of the U.S.

source: AdMob