Windows Mobile click through rate 4 times more than RIM, Palm, nearly twice as much as Android – Time for ad supported apps?

Smaato Inc. have published the Smaato Mobile Advertising Metrics which for the first time revealed the  Click Through Rate (CTR) Index by Handset operating system. The metrics are based upon 3 Billion ad requests served in the Smaato Network in December 2009.

The December performance numbers for the different handset types show a significant spread between the operating systems in regards to the CTR. Symbian phones had the highest CTR (161) compared to the averaged Index of 100, followed by Apple iPhone (119, with iPod Touch).

Following closely, Windows Phone Handsets perform above the average indexed at 100 placing the smartphone handset operating system in third place for in the Smaato Index.The Index consists of the average CTR of all devices and this number is set to 100.

This was followed by feature phones, then Android phones at 65, close to half as much as the Windows Mobile rate. Following far behind is Palm and Blackberry, with an index rate of 28 and 26 respectively.

In short, this means the odds of your ad being clicked on Windows Mobile is about the same as iPhones and iPod Touch’s, and 4 times as much as a Pre or Blackberry.  While the distribution of an app may be better on the iPhone, the competition is also much more there, meaning it is just as viable to try an ad-supported app on Windows Mobile than the iPhone, and certainly much more when compared to RIM or Palm, where it seems you could never sustain a business based on ads.

Are you ready for ad-supported apps on Windows Mobile?  Let us know below.

Thanks Matija for the tip.