Southern states like Android, northern like iOS

Study breaks down device usage by state and finds an interesting north vs. south pattern

After the debt ceiling fiasco and the refusals to compromise over a budget deal, no one would argue that we’re a divided country.  Every issue comes down to red versus blue, north versus south, east versus west, and now we have a new Mason-Dixon line: iOS versus Android.  A study released Friday by targeted mobile advertising company Jumptap looks at device dominance by state and identifies an interesting pattern: northern states are predominantly iOS states, while southern states are predominantly Android states.

To be more specific, there’s a clear usage pattern showing southern and southwestern states going to Android, while northern and Midwestern states go to iOS.  Seven states—largely in the south—are considered “neutral,” while Blackberry usage predominates in a few scattered states, including New York, Virginia, Oregon, South Carolina, North and South Dakota, and Kansas, among others. Interestingly, though Hawaii isn’t part of the contiguous U.S., it still falls within the same pattern as other south and southwestern states as an Android state.

“Our advertisers are requesting the most granular data available on mobile users so they can create the most targeted campaigns,” said Paran Johar, Chief Marketing Officer for Jumptap. “This new data reveals some interesting patterns for advertisers to consider when targeting consumers using Android devices vs. iOS devices.”

The study, which analyzed data from over 83 million unique users in the Jumptap mobile ad network for the first half of 2011, also points out some other interesting patterns. When it comes to OS click-through-rates, iOS takes the lead with .78%, compared to Android’s .47%, while Sprint leads in click-through-rates among carriers with .23%, while Verizon and T-Mobile tie for second with .20%.  AT&T comes in last with .17%. 

And who’s doing all this clicking?  Old people.  Mobile users ages 55 to 64 had a .92% click-through-rate, while those between the ages of 65 and 74 had a CTR of .87%.  By comparison, users between the ages of 25 and 34 had a CTR of .34%.