Android Edges out IOS with the Most Mobile Phone Ad Impressions in Q4 2013:

In the three days around Christmas (December 24, 25 and 26), the number of smartphones and tablets, increased by 13% in the USA and 22% in Europe, reflecting strong sales of these devices during the holiday season, according to analyis by the mobile ad agency, Opera Mediaworks.

Overall, Opera Mediaworks says that it has seen a significant increase in global ad traffic year over year, and now reaches over 425 million consumers, while serving over 60 billion impressions a month.

The ad agency also noted that while revenue from iOS remains higher, Android now drives majority of mobile ad traffic to phones.

In Q4, iOS devices captured 56% of revenue, up from 50% in Q3. However, when comparing iPhone to Android phone traffic, Android tops out with a nearly 36% share (vs. iPhone's 28.7%).

Social networking sites and apps are the most popular. Traffic volume for social networking services was the highest, at 34.25% of all global traffic. The Music, Video & Media category followed, with 17.7% of traffic; this category took the top spot for revenue generation (20.6%) as consumers continue to use their mobile devices more for streaming music and watching videos. Arts & Entertainment sites and apps captured 18.2% of revenue.

Japanese Mobile Device Market to Grow Despite Slump in Android Sales:

Japan mobile device market is predicted to reach 55.9 million units with year-over-year growth of 7.1% in 2013, according to IDC.

IDC Japan expects the market will continue to grow over the next five years, reaching 63.3 million units in 2017. The growth will be largely driven by smartphones and tablets, which are expected to expand to 37.5 million and 10.1 million units respectively in 2017.

According to IDC's Japan Quarterly Mobile Device Tracker, the total shipment of domestic mobile devices fell to 12.97 million units in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), declining -4.8% year over year. Smartphone shipments experienced a sudden slowdown in 3Q13, dropping to 6.9 million units, which represents a year-over-year decline of -13.7%.

The slowdown was mainly due to a sales slump in Android-powered smartphones.

In contrast, the tablet market recorded another healthy quarter, growing 63.9% year over year to 1.8 million units. Sales of low-price tablets and 4G tablets to both consumer and commercial markets, helped by huge sales subsidy by operators, kept demand stable throughout the quarter.

IPhone Still Rules SMBs, but Apple Needs to Keep an Eye on Samsung:

Apple devices accounted for three-quarters (76%) of all mobile device activations on Intermedia's desktop sync network since January 2013.

Intermedia's customers use its service to synchronize their mobile devices with their desktop computers.

With over 190,000 activations, Apple accounted for six out of every eight mobile devices activated by Intermedia's SMB customers, despite other studies showing Android's overall lead in market share.

Intermedia's annual report also finds that Samsung has pulled ahead of the competition in the past two years to establish itself as the No. 2 device manufacturer among Intermedia's SMB customers -- surpassing activations of all other Android manufacturers, as well as Windows and BlackBerry mobile devices.

"Small and medium-sized businesses are choosing Apple for mobile delivery of their cloud IT services at an incredible rate," said Michael Gold, president of Intermedia. "Many customers already leverage Intermedia services on smartphones and tablets as the primary front-end for running their business. Samsung and Apple will compete intensely for these business users by driving down prices, extending functionality, and addressing SMB needs like security. This means the ultimate winner will be businesses themselves."