iPhone, Android Preferences Divided Along Geographic Lines

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Forget about blue states versus red states -- the smartphone era has given us a new demographic divide: iPhone versus Android states. According to a new study from mobile ad network Jumptap, people with the iOS-based devices, including the iPhone, tend to congregate in the Northeast and Midwest, while Android users are more likely to be found in the South and Southwest.

More specifically, the geographic research shows California, Texas and Florida skew toward Android, while New England and Midwest states -- including Indiana, Illinois and Missouri -- swing toward iOS. What about Iowa, that bellwether primary state in presidential elections? Chalk it up in Android's column.

Jumptap's U.S. mobile map also shows that BlackBerry is dominant in a handful of states, including New York -- possibly attributed to the many business users in New York City. Other states, especially in the Southeast, showed no clear preference for any particular smartphone platform relative to others -- a mobile neutral zone of sorts.

Regional differences aside, Android has clearly become the most pervasive smartphone operating system in the U.S., as well as worldwide.

As of June, Android represented 38% of ad requests in Jumptap's network, followed by iOS with 33%, BlackBerry, 22%, Symbian, 5% and webOS and "other," each 1%. A comScore report on Thursday revealed four in 10 U.S. smartphone users have Android-based devices compared to 26.6% who own iPhones.

Even so, Jumptap said mapping the geographic strongholds for different device models helps marketers better target mobile ads. "Our advertisers are requesting the most granular data available on mobile users so they can create the most targeted campaigns," stated CMO Paran Johar. "This new data reveals some interesting patterns for advertisers to consider when targeting consumers using Android devices vs. iOS devices."

The company's monthly trends report also showed that while Android may be the biggest platform, ads on the iPhone boast the highest average click-through rate. The iPhone's click rate of .78 was again easily ahead of Android's .47%, which fell below the .52% average for all smartphones. BlackBerry was the lowest, at .36%.

Jumptap attributed the iPhone's superior performance to a more seamless user experience across the mobile Web and applications, leading to higher ad interaction. When it comes to click rates among various Android phone manufacturers, the study showed SonyEricsson devices had the highest rate, at .54%. That was followed by LG (.40%), Samsung, (.39%), Motorola (.32%), and HTC (.21%).

Jumptap suggested Sony's higher click rate stemmed from its positioning as a premium brand, among other possible factors. But who has a SonyEricsson phone in the U.S.? Overall, the study found a significant monthly increase in mobile campaigns driving users to mobile sites, which it attributed to more marketers creating mobile-optimized sites. Mobile sites made up 78% of campaign destinations, while 19% featured a click-to-download option, and 2% had click-to-call buttons.

The use of targeting in campaigns -- by criteria including country, age, location, handset, and feature -- increased to 61% in June from 49% in May. Targeting by various phone features remained the most popular method, used in more than one in five premium campaigns. Just under 20% of were targeted by handset and location, and less than 10% by country or age.

The above findings come from Jumptap's latest Mobile STAT report, based on data for the first half of 2011 from the more than 83 million unique users on the Jumptap network.

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