Philip Elmer-DeWitt who writes Apple 2.0 for CNN/Fortune, has a post today covering the global distribution of iPhone and iPod Touch. Elmer-DeWitt cites a report by Piper Jaffray technology analyst Gene Munster, who projects that Apple will have sold 78 million iPhones and iPod Touches worldwide by the end of January.
Now that we have an idea how many iPhone/Touch devices are out there, the next question is where are they? Apple does not provide a breakdown of sales by region, hence curious minds must look elsewhere for data. One of the best sources for intel is Google’s recent acquisition Ad-Mob*, the world’s largest mobile advertising platform. According to Ad-Mob, total mobile ad requests were up 150% worldwide in 2009, and from January though November, the fastest growing markets for iPhone/Touch were Japan, France, Australia and China (see the bar graph below).
Just a wild guess, but given KT’s successful iPhone launch (Nov. 28, 2009) South Korea should race up the list of fastest growing iPhone markets.
For more Ad-Mob data and highlights, read > Apple 2.0
* Note: Ad-Mob tracks devices that visit ad-supported websites. Hence Ad-Mob data is biased towards web-friendly devices and smartphones. Ad-Mob’s November report is available in pdf form via > metrics.admob.com
