S Asia mobile traffic rises 51 per cent in 1Q '2010: AdMob report

India, Indonesia and Australia emerged the top three countries to generate over 74 per cent mobile traffic in the region in Q1 2010.

According to the quarterly Southeast Asian Mobile Metrics Report, mobile advertising network AdMob, released today, the traffic was a quarter-on-quarter increase from 72 per cent in the previous quarter.

The report said that Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong rounded off the bottom with just seven per cent traffic, a decline from eight per cent in th earlier quarter.

The report, broadly divided by adoption of devices and share of OS on the devices across the Southeast Asia region, painting very upbeat picture of the state of mobile device adoption and consumer interest in operating systems.

Highlights from the Q1 2010 AdMob Southeast Asia Regional Metrics Report include:

• Handsets running iPhone OS have been some of the most sought after mobile devices in Singapore since October 2009, with an increase of close to 200 per cent in uniuqe devices.

In March 2010, the iPhone OS accounted for 89 per cent of smartphone traffic in Singapore marketshare was up from the previous quarter. The iPhone OS is still the leading operating system in Australia (88 per cent ) and Hong Kong (78 per cent) based on March 2010 traffic share.

• Manufacturers in Southeast Asia, not including Nokia, Apple and Sony Ericsson, accounted for 26 per cent of traffic, an increase from 21 per cent last quarter. LG and Motorola, both at one per cent each, gained significant traffic share. Despite leading the manufacturer share, Nokia showed a loss of market share from 52 per cent to 47 per cent. Apple had 15 per cent and SonyEricsson had 11 per cent of the traffic share based on Q1 2010 traffic.
• The top three countries, India, Indonesia and Australia generated over 74 per cent of traffic in the region in Q1 2010, an increase from 72 per cent last quarter. The bottom three countries, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong accounted for almost seven per cent of traffic, a decline from eight per cent.
• Traffic from smartphone devices in Southeast Asia represented 38 per cent of overall traffic in Q1, compared to the 40 per cent of Q4 2009. Singapore had the highest traffic from smartphone devices at 84 per cent of Q1 2010 traffic, an increase of seven per cent from Q4 2009. Vietnam had the lowest at 20 per cent, showing a decline of two per cent.
• Jointly, Symbian and iPhone OS at 95 per cent, accounted for the largest share, down one per cent from Q4 2009. Symbian OS is the most popular operating system in the region and accounted for 62 per cent of smartphone traffic in Q1 2010, despite a traffic share loss of 4 per cent. The iPhone OS came in second at 33 per cent of Q1 2010 smartphone traffic, up from 30 per cent in Q4.
• The Nokia N70 smartphone continues to be the most popular Symbian handset in Southeast Asia. Traffic from the handset has grown 26 per cent quarter-over-quarter. In the Philippines and India, the N70 is the most popular smartphone device.