Blackberry Beating iPhone in Indonesia by Mobile Ad Requests

… well at it is, according to InMobi!

InMobi is the largest mobile ad network in Asia, Africa and Indonesia, and has released data showing that RIM’s Blackberry device may be leading the handset race in Indonesia. From January 2009 to June 2009, mobile ad requests on Blackberry phones increased by 842%, compared to mobile ad requests on Indonesia iPhones, which increased only by 205%.

RIM’s Blackberry device (the info doesn’t say which models) was released three months before the iPhone in the country in January of 2009. Although Blackberry and iPhone had similar growth patterns after the iPhone launch, the two handsets took dramatically different growth paths beginning in April 2009.

Indonesia is predicted to be the third largest mobile market after China and India by 2010 according to the ROA Group. Already, mobile users in Indonesia far outnumber active Internet users by 5 to 1, and the country boasts a 56.8% mobile penetration rate verses a 10.4% according to Internet World Stats.

Just in case you wanted to know, the top mobile Internet operator in Indonesia is Indosat, which leads the market with 75% share, followed by Telekomsel with 18% and Excelcomindo with 3%. Fierce competition between mobile operators and a price war between vendors created an influx of affordable mobile phones this year.