There's been no shortage of hype and hot air surrounding the release of the Droid, from the $100 million ad campaign Verizon launched to promote the phone to the latest Apple ads firing back at Verizon's "iDon't" spots attacking the iPhone.
That's not to mention the myriad head-to-head comparisons between the Droid and the iPhone that have been posted online
and whether the Motorola device will emerge as a true challenger to the smartphone crown over time. One area where the Droid already appears to be having an impact, though, is in mobile advertising.
The Droid already accounts for nearly a quarter (24%) of the ad impressions generated by Android-powered phones worldwide in the two week's following its Nov. 6 launch, according to the latest
data from mobile ad network AdMob. That made it second only to the G1, the initial Android phone launched last year, which had a 36% share.
With the release of other handsets including the
myTouch 3G from T-Mobile and the HTC Hero from Sprint, Android in October increased its share of impressions to 20%, up from 17% the prior month. Based on its strong start, the Droid looks likely to
overtake the G1 as the pointy edge of the Android spear in advertising.
But the Google operating system still has a ways to go to catch up with the iPhone OS, which represents 55% of
smartphone impressions among in the U.S. and 50% globally. But we'll see what the Droid does in the coming months.
