SYDNEY: Mobile ad impressions have more than doubled in Australia over the past year, with Apple products accounting for around half of this total.

A new report from InMobi, a mobile research specialist, indicates that overall impressions rose by 156% between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012.

Within this total, impressions on smartphones rose by 219% year on year, signalling that users of more advanced mobile devices are viewing more ads.

The top two devices on the rankings were both owned by Apple, with the iPhone accounting for 43.7% of total impressions during the three-month period, and the iPod for 5.6%.

Samsung's Galaxy S II smartphone (4.9%), Apple's iPad (4.7%) and RIM's BlackBerry 9700 (4%) rounded out the top five.

In terms of operating systems, Apple's iOS took a 54% share, with Android in second place on 23.6%.

Looking to the future, InMobi indicated that ad impressions on tablets such as the iPad are becoming increasingly influential in the Australian mobile sector – broadly reflecting global trends.

Francisco Cordero, regional director at InMobi Australia, said: "In the US and UK [InMobi rankings], Apple iPads sit in third and second place [in terms of ad impressions], so following the global trend we expect to see a continued growth in tablets in Australia this year.

"This of course will be driven by the recent release of the new iPad, as well as the reduced pricing of the iPad 2."

Figures released by Nielsen earlier this month indicate that 18% of Australian households now own a tablet PC of some form.

This penetration rate is estimated to increase to 30% by 2013.

Data sourced from InMobi; additional content by Warc staff