Android now matches Apple's iOS in ad impressions, with each mobile operating system garnering 37 percent, says Millennial Media. Meanwhile, fellow mobile analytics firm Chitika estimates that the original Motorola Droid has the highest mobile traffic in the U.S. among Android devices at 19 percent, followed by the HTC Evo 4G and Droid X.

Google's Android operating system has nibbled at and caught up to Apple iOS in ad impressions, with each grabbing 37 percent share, according to the new Millenial Media Mobile Mix report. Android smartphone ad impressions grew 8 percent from the September report, when it tallied 29 percent to iOS' 46 percent share of impressions. Research in Motion's Blackberry is third with 20 percent of impressions, says the study.

Smartphone OS mix, based on sample of traffic on Millennial Media's U.S. based network in Oct. 2010
Source: Millennial Media

Developers who use Google's AdMob and AdSense for mobile ad platforms on Android handsets and Apple iAd for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are going to generate revenues, thanks to the millions of U.S. smartphone users embracing these devices.

Apple accounted for 25 percent share of smartphone impressions by manufacturer. Samsung was No. 2 with 17 percent. Motorola held a 15 percent impression share thanks to its popular Droid 2 and Droid X handsets, which debuted on Millenial's list of top 30 handsets. 

Chitika: Droid keeps kickin' it old school

Data analytics firm Chitika has more firepower to add to the Droid testimonial with a study of U.S. Android traffic broken down by individual smartphone. Based on traffic coming through Chitika's advertising network, the study found that the original Motorola Droid (pictured), which launched to market one year ago this month, accounted for 19 percent of all Android traffic.

Sprint's HTC Evo 4G is No. 2 with nearly 12 percent of all Android traffic. As shown in the chart below, other hot Android phones were said to include the Droid X (10 percent) and HTC Incredible (7 percent).

Top Android devices by traffic, based on sample of traffic on Chitika's U.S. based network in Nov. 2010
Source: Chitika

Naturally, Google CEO Eric Schmidt waxed bullish on Android at the Web 2.0 Summit Nov. 15. Schmidt said that while there are certainly pros and cons to Google's open-source Android approach and Apple's closed, protected iPhone ecosystem, he ultimately believed Android was superior for the cloud.

"We would argue that our platform is better for applications that are network-resident and that need that kind of power," Schmidt said.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak chimed in an interview with De Telegraaf, saying he believed Android would one day be the dominant platform.

Users are voting with their wallets, though they are clearly doing it for the iPhone and iPad, too. The iPad shipped almost 4.2 million units last quarter alone.

Availability

The Millennial Media Mobile Mix traffic report may be found here, and a Fortune story with charts from Millenial's last five months of OS traffic studies may be found here.

The Chitika study on Android traffic in the U.S. based on handset model may be found here.

Clint Boulton is a writer for our sister publication eWEEK.

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