The increase in Android’s Web traffic marketshare was driven by the launch of new devices – 11 of which account for 96 percent of Android traffic in March 2010, according to AdMob. The company’s March 2010 Metrics Report examined the growing diversity of Android devices and increase in overall mobile Web traffic since September.

“This month’s report shows that the Android ecosystem is thriving, due to the launch of new devices and versions of the operating system,” said Nicole Leverich, director of corporate communications at AdMob, San Mateo, CA.

“The Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset in March 2010 generating 32 percent of worldwide Android traffic while the Google Nexus One only generated 2 percent of Android traffic in March 2010,” she said.

AdMob is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising networks and it serves more than 7.1 billion mobile banner and text ads per month.

Android takes over
In March 2010, there were 34 Android devices from 12 manufacturers available to consumers, according to AdMob.

With so many devices available via various wireless carriers (unlike the iPhone, which is only available on AT&T) many predict that Android may eat Apple’s marketshare.

Retailers need to take off their blinders and see that there is more to mobile than just the iPhone.

According to AdMob, 11 devices that accounted for 96 percent of Android traffic, up from two devices in September.

The three primary versions of the Android OS drove significant traffic in March – Android 1.5 accounted for 38 percent, Android 2.0/2.1 accounted for 35 percent and Android 1.6 accounted for 26 percent.

Motorola and HTC were the leading Android device manufacturers with 44 percent and 43 percent of respective traffic.

According to the study, Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset in March 2010 generating 32 percent of Android traffic, while the Google Nexus One drove only two percent of Android traffic.

In addition, 54 percent of Android traffic came from devices with a QWERTY keyboard.
In November 2009, the Android had 20 percent of the smartphone traffic, up from 7 percent six months before (see story).

The report also found that new BlackBerry devices from Research In Motion are generating an increasing percentage of total requests for the platform. RIM’s BlackBerry Tour, the new Curve 8900 and Curve the 8520 are gaining traffic.

Smartphone traffic
Devices such as the iPhone 3GS, which accounted for 39 percent, second generation iPod touch, which accounted for 25 percent and iPhone 3G, which accounted for 20 percent – generated 84 percent of total iPhone OS traffic.

Additionally, total worldwide traffic in AdMob’s network increased 18 percent month-over-month.

“The growing presence of the Android ecosystem is difficult to ignore,” Ms. Leverich said. “For marketers, this means that you shouldn’t forget Android in your mobile campaigns and focusing on cross-platform campaigns is becoming more important.”