Apple?s newest crop of iPhone 5 and iOS 6 users are spending significant time interacting with social networking applications, according to a new study from Velti.

Velti?s September ?State of Mobile Advertising? report looked at the top devices and trends in the industry. In particular, the report looks at the impact that September?s launch of the iPhone 5 smartphone and iOS 6 software has had.

"This report gives the industry further insight into consumer preferences internationally and at home," said Krishna Subramanian, chief marketing officer at Velti, San Francisco. "Particularly, from the data we were able to see some interesting early adopter user patterns that translate into useful marketing insights

"Just like the change we saw directly after the iPhone 4S release when iOS volume also spiked by five percent, it is getting safer to assume after big Apple announcements, iOS will spike," he said. "Aside from spikes due to launches, the fluctuation between the platforms has stayed rather constant."

Mobile attention
In addition to social networking, mobile game apps contribute to 22 percent of usage with entertainment and utility-based apps racking up 13 percent of time from consumers.

Other top app categories include photography with 8 percent of usage and news with five percent, per the Velti research.

Effective cost per thousand impressions ? or eCPM ? increased in nine of the top ten app content categories in September. Additionally, the exchange-wide eCPM increased by 15 percent in September.

Weather leads the pack with a $1.02 eCPM, followed by categories including lifestyle, education and games.

As a result of Apple?s launch, iOS gained a five percent market share month-over-month compared to Android.

In September, iOS made up 62 percent of the smartphone platform compared to 57 percent in August. Android accounted for 38 percent of market share in September, which is a slip from 43 percent in August.

Additionally, the United States leads the pack with 43 percent of the ad impressions from iPhone 5 devices. Japan claimed 14 percent of impressions and Britain took in eight percent of impressions.

France claimed seven percent of impressions and Australia collected six percent. Other countries surveyed included Canada, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong ? all of which individually made up five percent or less of impressions.

Also in the U.S., AT&T claimed 54 percent of iPhone impressions. The second-leading carrier for iPhone impressions was Verizon with 32 percent and Sprint with 14 percent.

IOS6 upgrade
When it comes to iOS 6 upgrades, more than 40 percent of iPhone owners downloaded the software within the first week. However, the majority of upgrades came from iOS 5 users.

Per Velti?s research, 11 percent of iPhone users remain on iOS 4, showing the snag that some iOS 6 features have had, especially with maps. However, as iOS 6 glitches get ironed out, it is likely that some users might jump ship to iOS 6.

Besides Apple, Samsung is showing to be particularly strong in Korea, according to the findings. The Samsung Galaxy II is the country?s No. 1 phone, making up 16 percent of impressions.

Other top devices in Korea include Samsung?s Galaxy Note LTE and the iPhone 3, each of which gathered five percent of impressions. Samsung?s Galaxy Note and Galaxy each claimed four percent of impressions. Rounding out the top five devices is the iPhone 4 with three percent of impressions.

These top five devices claim 34 percent of impressions, showing how fragmented the Korean market is. On the other hand, the top five devices in the U.S. make up more than 60 percent of impressions.

Overall top devices in the report were the iPhone with 31 percent of impressions. IPod touch devices made up 17 percent of impressions with the iPad claiming 14 percent of impressions. Samsung?s Galaxy SII device generated three percent of impressions and Samsung?s Galaxy SIII pulled in one percent of impression volume.

"Apple does a great job at marketing their products and exciting their consumers ? they energize their base," Mr. Subramanian said. So, there is always quick jump in downloads amongst loyal consumers, after the upgrades.

"However, Velti data reveals that, although iOS 6 saw quick adoption among a large amount of users, 11 percent of users have opted not to upgrade to the operating system and remain using iOS 4," he said. "So, there will always be holdouts, including on Apple."

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York