AdMob and iAds are two competing platforms in today’s mobile advertising and smartphone ads universe. AdMob, which was recently acquired by Google, is a mobile advertising company. It is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising platforms, and claims to have served 220 billion impressions. iAds, on the other hand, is the smartphone ads platform of Apple (since they were outbid for AdMob, their platform is based on their acquisition of Quattro Wireless).

The two platforms are in direct competition. While Apple has more experience in the mobile phone world, Google has more experience in the realm of advertising; this experience reflects innovation and creativity not only in the content and presentation of ads, but in the expansion and retention of a client base. However, while this experience in advertising could be advantageous for Google, the far wider mobile phone customer base that Apple has already established could be the deciding factor in this competition.

The Mobile research firm Flurry this week estimated that the Nexus One,  failed to have a strong debut, despite all the buzz that surrounded its announcement. The 20,000 week one sales fell far behind Apples iPhone which sold an estimated 1.6 million 3GS handsets in June.  However, Apple’s iPhone handset was a third-generation product selling in eight countries, while the Nexus One was a first-generation handset on sale in just the U.S.

With that said, the Android myTouch 3G and Motorola Droid were also first-generation hadsets with U.S.-only launches, and both had sales much stronger than the Nexus One.  The myTouch 3G sold over 60,000 in its first week, while the Motorola Droid sold over 250,000 units.

Nexus One was outsold three times by the myTouch 3G, 12 times by the Droid, and 80 times by the iPhone 3GS, Flurry noted there are key differences.  The Motorola Droid debuted with a $100 million marketing campaign, and even the myTouch 3G was heavily promoted on television by carrier T-Mobile.  By comparison, Google’s device launched after the holiday season and is marketing and selling the device through its own ‘Monster’ Web site.

Analysis noted that “While Google, avoided channel conflict with T-Mobile, it appears to have set the direct-to-consumer price for the handset at over $500 dollars, the high price combined with the fact that the device is only considered an ‘evolutionary’ improvement over previous Android devices, indicates that Google did not take the neccesary steps to maximize first week sales,”.
“Perhaps one would consider that among the most expensive costs associated with the launch -enough marketing- has not been incurred, and could have been applied to lowering the direct-to-consumer price.”

At a press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Motorola lifted the wraps and debuted their new wireless handset, the Backflip, which has both a touch-screen and keypad similar to the popular Droid handset that went on sale at Verizon Communications Inc. in November.

The difference on this device from the Droid is that the Backflip has its keypad in the back, which folds out rather than sliding out.

The smart phone also features the Motorola’s, MotoBlur software, a platform that is designed to integrate social networking and other communications features easily for the user. MotoBlur is featured on the Cliq but not on the Droid.

Motorola’s co-CEO, Sanjay Jha who leads the handset business, said the company plans to launch the device in the first quarter of this year, but could not give a specific launch date, carrier partner or price on the device.

AT&T had press conference earlier in the day, and said it planned to launch new Android phones this year, and had a picture of the Backflip.

We have already heard all there is to know about the sexy Motorola DROID smartphone. In fact we posted up our full review of the handset not long ago, and we really liked it. The only thing left to know now is how well Motorola did the first weekend of sales.

Bloomberg reports that Motorola likely sold about 100,000 DROID handsets on the first weekend it was available. The sales figures are pointed at as a sign that Motorola is recovering, though it still trials Apple in the market.

Bloomberg reports that Verizon had 200,000 DROID handsets on hand and that stores sold about half their stock of devices the first weekend. Motorola is expected to sell about a million Android handsets in Q4 2009 counting the DROID and other devices. One analyst says that anyone expecting the DROID to outdo the iPhone on opening weekend had their goals set too high.

It comes as little surprise given we’ve already seen it unboxed and know the pricing, but Verizon Wireless have officially announced that, as of tomorrow, they’ll be offering the DROID Eris by HTC.  Basically another version of the HTC Hero, the HTC DROID Eris packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera, EVDO Rev.A and the HTC Sense UI.

There’s also a microSD slot – Verizon are popping in an 8GB card as standard – and both GPS and a digital compass.  The browser gets Flash Lite for in-page video streaming and there’s all the usual Gmail, Google Maps and other standard Android applications.  No Google Maps Navigation, however, as the DROID Eris – unlike the Motorola DROID – doesn’t come with Android 2.0.

As we’ve already heard, it’s the pricing that makes the HTC DROID Eris something of a bargain.  Verizon have priced at it at $99.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) and presuming a new, two-year agreement.

Verizon’s apparent intention to show up AT&T and the iPhone at every turn continues, with the latest snook to be cocked being confirmed tethering for the Verizon DROID by Motorola.  According to the CDMA carrier, early 2010 will see the Verizon Broadband Access Connect plan arrive on the Android slider, likely priced at the usual $15 per month on top of your regular data contract.

That gets you a 5GB per month limit, the same as Verizon’s standalone data card and USB modem plans.  Not perfect, no, but considering AT&T customers are still waiting semi-patiently for iPhone tethering it’s another plus in the DROID’s favor.  More on the Verizon DROID here.