Apple?s iPhone leads the pack with MMS usage, according to a new report from mobile messaging service Mogreet.

Mogreet?s semi-annual mobile marketing analytics report looked at trends that the company has seen on its platform over the past six months. Although iPhones do consume the most MMS content, Samsung devices are close on its tail.

?While Android phones make up half of all smartphones used in the United States, there are thousands of different models and a handful of companies that manufacturer phones that run on Android,? said Anthony Rossano, chief technology officer at Mogreet, Venice, CA.

?But Apple iPhones come in second at approximately 30 percent of the U.S. market and especially within our most common demographic group, young female consumers, iPhones are extremely popular,? he said.

?The MMS activity we see on iPhones is a definite reflection of the phone market in the U.S. today.?

Device share
Since August 2011, MMS views on Mogreet?s platform from iPhone devices increased from 7.4 percent to 23.6 percent.

To compare, Samsung devices made up 21.9 percent of total usage, marking a six-month increase from 2.9 percent.

Showing how fragmented the Android smartphone market is, LG devices made up 17.8 percent of usage. Motorola, Pantech and HTC devices made up approximately 14 percent of Mogreet?s MMS views.

Research in Motion?s BlackBerry devices made up 5.1 percent of message views.

In addition to devices, Mogreet?s findings also broke down operating systems.

Android represented 16 percent of total MMS traffic.

Other top operating systems included BREW/REX with 8.2 percent of all MMS traffic, as well as Windows and WebOS operating systems.

Nokia, Symbian and Palm operating systems accounted for .1 percent each of use.

?Short-form content is best, consumers seem to prefer to watch brief video material on their mobile phone,? Mr. Rossano said.

?People use MMS and other mobile technologies in the down time while performing other activities, so the material should be diverting, entertaining and enjoyable,? he said.

?Most of all, the content should be something that consumers will want to share with friends, to take advantage of the built-in virality, person-to-person content curation and sharing that is possible.?

Play on mobile
When it comes to carriers, Verizon Wireless claimed 45.4 percent of views, followed by AT&T with 42.9 percent. The two carriers? approximate 89 percent market share is an increase from August 2011?s 81.3 percent market control.

The grip of Verizon Wireless and AT&T?s control points to the companies? dominance in the industry. The other typical two big carriers ? Sprint and T-Mobile ? made up 8.2 percent and .7 percent of market share, respectively.

Cricket made up 2.4 percent of traffic. US Cellular, Alltel and Boost collectively made up less than one percent of MMS traffic.

Messaging is traditionally seen as a channel for marketers to reach the widest group of mobile users, especially for feature phone users. However, Mogreet?s findings show that it is not just feature phone users who are texting ? even high-end device owners are consistently using text and video messaging.

To make MMS campaigns targeted, marketers can take advantage of a user?s location with relevant content.

The top five regions for receiving Mogreet-powered MMS messages are Atlanta, South Carolina, Phoenix, Houston and Las Vegas.

?Many of our clients filter or segment the MMS content they deliver by location, time zone, state, ZIP code or area code,? Mr. Rossano said.

?This gives marketers the ability to deliver locally relevant content and deliver time-sensitive materials like television tune-in reminders, and to test different content in different geographic regions,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York