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AdMob said that in the UK it recorded a fourfold surge in internet usage by iPod touch owners in December. The US, Canada, Germany and Australia also saw greater than 300% increases.

The biggest surge was on Christmas Day.

“iPod Touch requests on AdMob’s network exploded on December 25th,” according to AdMob’s Mobile Metrics Report for December 2008.

“Amazingly, iPod Touch requests doubled overnight on Christmas and remained strong throughout the remainder of the month.”

AdMob also notes that the iPhone is continuing to snare a larger share of mobile internet usage by smartphones.

“Symbian is still the number one OS worldwide with 41% share and retains more than 90% share in Africa and Asia; however, the iPhone is challenging it in Latin America and Europe. The iPhone OS has already surpassed the RIM OS and Windows Mobile combined,” the report says. “In the US, the iPhone OS generated 48% of Smartphone requests in December, up from only 9% in May 2008.”