With a number of Google’s Android OS-based smartphones on the horizon, developers are devoting significant resources to the mobile platform, which will result in a boom in Android apps, according to reports  from two Silicon Valley startups, Flurry and AdMob. Flurry, a San Francisco-based mobile metrics company, today said that it had seen an unprecedented 94 percent increase in the number of projects started by Android developers between September and October.  Continue »

The iPhone still rules when it comes to traffic on the wireless web, according to the latest figures from AdMob, but Google’s Android and Palm’s webOS are picking up steam. The San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile ad company today said the iPhone (not including the iPod touch) accounted for 40 percent of wireless web usage in August, up from 33 percent in February. Android showed steady gains as well, jumping to 7 percent from 2 percent during the six-month period, and webOS — which only became available in June with the launch of the Pre — claimed 4 percent market share. Continue »

Everyone — from app developers to startups such as AdMob to Google — are feeling bullish about the megabillion-dollar potential of mobile advertising. They shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched, warns a study conducted by Chitika, a Marlborough, Mass.-based online advertising company. The study based on 92 million impressions reveals that mobile users are only about half as likely to click on an advertisement vs. non-mobile web users. Continue »

In this new mobile platform world, app developers are the new kingmakers. Not a day goes by when someone doesn’t introduce their own app store, but the question of whether or not they’ll actually be able to profit from their efforts remains. (See our related research report from GigaOM Pro, Surveying the Mobile App Store Landscape, subscription required) In many ways, my post from last week about the potential size of the applications market has exposed what seems to be the Achilles’ heel of this new economy: a lack of money-making opportunities for small, independent app developers. Continue »

AdMob, a San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile advertising company, yesterday released a report that indicated Apple’s iPhone App Store generates about $200 million a month, or a run rate of some $2.4 billion a year. My post elicited some strong reactions from app developers and many commenters who took issue with the claims contained in the report. Continue »

AdMob, a San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile advertising company, said today that it’s buying AdWhirl, which lets publishers switch between ad networks on the fly, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition comes in the wake of AdMob moving to pull itself out of AdWhirl’s network and marks a significant consolidation within the mobile ad industry, which is set to hit nearly $2 billion by 2014.

AdMob will not only keep Menlo Pak, Calif.-AdWhirl’s existing ad network, but will release open-source developer tools for it, the details of which it will provide in the coming weeks. AdWhirl’s tools can still be used by app developers in the meantime.

“By offering this first ever open source ad mediation solution, our goal is to provide a much needed open, unbiased and transparent tool for mobile publishers who would like to build financially rewarding businesses that are fueled by advertising,” said AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui in a company statement announcing the acquisition.

If I were to tell you that Apple’s app economy was worth more than $2.5 $2.4 billion a year, you would laugh hysterically, shake your head and walk out of the room, yes? Surf on over to some other web site? But here I am telling you exactly that! According to mobile advertising startup AdMob, there are some $200 million worth of applications sold in Apple’s iPhone store every month, or about $2.4 billion a year.

Just to put that in context, Apple says about 1.5 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store. In comparison, the Android marketplace brings in about $5 million a month or on a run rate to do $60 million in a year, AdMob says. I bet that number rises up sharply once more handsets come to market. As you know, Motorola is announcing its new Android handsets at our Mobilize 09 conference on September 10. Continue »