Google’s Android operating system has nibbled at and caught up to Apple iOS in ad impressions, with each grabbing 37 percent share, according to the new Millenial Media Mobile Mix report.
Android smartphone ad impressions grew 8 percent from the September report, when it tallied 29 percent to iOS’ 46 percent share of impressions. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry is third with 20 percent of impressions.
Developers who use Google’s AdMob and AdSense for mobile ad platforms on Android handsets and Apple iAd for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are going to generate revenues thanks to the millions of U.S. smartphone users embracing these devices.
Apple accounted for 25 percent share of smartphone impressions by manufacturer. Samsung was No. 2 with 17 percent.
Motorola held a 15 percent impression share thanks to its popular Droid 2 and Droid X handsets, which debuted on Millenial’s list of top 30 handsets.
Readers may download the Millenial report here, or see highlights on Fortune here, which charts Millenial’s last five months of pie charts.
Chitika provides more firepower to add to the Droid testimonial.
The researcher found that the original Motorola Droid, which launched to market one year ago this month, accounted for 19 percent of all Android traffic. Sprint’s HTC Evo is No. 2 with nearly 12 percent of all Android traffic.
Naturally, Google CEO Eric Schmidt waxed bullish on Android at the Web 2.0 Summit Nov. 15.
Schmidt said that while there are certainly pros and cons to Google’s open-source Android approach and Apple’s closed, protected iPhone ecosystem, he ultimately believed Android was superior for the cloud.
“We would argue that our platform is better for applications that are network-resident and that need that kind of power,” Schmidt said.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak chimed in, saying he believed Android would one day be the dominant platform.
Users are voting with their wallets, though they are clearly doing it for the iPhone and iPad, too. iPad shipped almost 4.2 million units last quarter alone.