More Inferences from AdMob Reports-iPhone Accounts for 50% of Smartphone Mobile Data? Hmm

I described why…

AdMob Droid Metrics Reported in GigaOn Don’t Make Sense

…yesterday. Now, let’s take a look at another claim based on AdMob data. This one is from AppleInsider…

Apple iPhone eats up 50% share of all mobile data traffic globally

First, AdMob’s report only addresses smartphones. AdMob names these platforms and even “other” is defined as (Palm, Linux). So, AdMob is clear on this. So, it can’t be the case that the iPhone uses 50% of all mobile data traffic because not all mobile data traffic is generated by smartphones. The so-called “dumb” feature phones are actually very smart these days and can take advantage of email and web service just like smartphones. But, they do not appear in the AdMob report because they are not smartphones. So, let’s be a bit nit-picky and say the iPhone accounts for 50% of data used by smartphones. But, AppleInsider itself notes this distinction in the article, so “no harm, no foul”

The article itself takes a very interesting look at how AdMob itself approached reporting its data. AppleInsider notes that the report ignores the iPhone despite the iPhone’s dominance in data use as measured by AdMob.

I’m still skeptical of many (perhaps most or even all) of the smartphone analysis I’ve seen recently even if I agree with the reports’ various conclusions.

I just sent email to AdMob asking if anyone there might be interesting/willing to discuss this on a podcast. They may be in a “no talk” period since Google is acquring them. But, if someone is available, I’m looking forward to learning exactly what inferences AdMob makes of their data.

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