New Delhi: InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, today revealed that the Indian mobile ad market grew by 1.5 billion ad impressions (27%) between October 2010 and January 2011. The finding is part of InMobi’s January 2011 Mobile Insights Report – India Market, the largest monthly report of its kind.

Commenting on the study, James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi, says: “2011 has initiated a massive global consumer transition to high-quality smart devices. This trend will define the next phase of mobile advertising growth for InMobi with smart phone impressions becoming the majority of our inventory globally.”

Key findings for the Indian market include:

Indian mobile ad market grew by 27%, gaining well over 1.5 billion monthly impressions in just 90 days

Smartphone growth outpaced advanced phones and now represents 14% of the overall market

Smartphone impressions grew by over 44%, now representing over one billion monthly impressions

Advanced phones represent 6.3 billion monthly impressions

With 15% growth in its impressions share, Nokia continues to be the top operating system in India with 34.5% impression share

Android, iPhone and RIM now comprise 1.3% of the total market

These operating systems collectively increased +0.8 share pts since October 2010

With a 0.3% impression share, the Apple iPhone is just now entering the market

With 59% market share Nokia continues to be the top manufacturer in India, followed by Samsung with 24% impression share

These two competitors account for 83% of total impressions served in the Indian mobile market

SonyEricsson, LG and Micromax follow Nokia and Samsung on the top manufacturer’s list

Comments Atul Satija, VP & Managing Director – Asia Pacific at InMobi: “The India mobile ad market continues to grow at a rapid pace. The sheer quantity of monthly impressions highlights the opportunity for advertisers to reach the masses via mobile media. Furthermore, a 44% growth in smartphone impressions and 3G network rollouts indicate the future acceleration of media consumption in the region.”

Indian OS Share: January 2011

OS

Impressions

% share

Point change

Nokia OS

2,546,859,043

34.5%

-3.6

Symbian OS

1,828,966,813

24.8%

-1.9

Android

48,389,175

0.7%

+0.4

iPhone OS

23,392,733

0.3%

+0.1

RIM OS

21,380,954

0.3%

n/a

Others

2,917,860,572

39.5%+

+4.7

InMobi has created a full report on global behavior for the period October 2010 to January 2011. It is available for download here: www.inmobi.com/research.