Although it accounts for only 2 percent of smartphones worldwide, the iPhone appears to deliver the bulk of mobile traffic to the web, according to internal numbers released by Google and reported by The New York Times.

Based on numbers reported by Google, more mobile traffic came from iPhones than any other mobile devices over the Christmas holiday. Although it declined to release internal numbers, Yahoo confirmed the same trend. However, a few days after the holiday, phones using the Nokia-backed Symbian operating system overtook the iPhone. Symbian accounts for about 63 percent of the smartphone market.

While the iPhone's time atop the heap may have been brief, the staggering difference in market share could mean that Apple's short mobile triumph may have changed the game for wireless.

According to Vic Gundotra, Google's VP of mobile products, Apple has set the bar for mobile web browsers.

"Consumers are going to demand internet browsers as good as Apple's," Gundotra said.

If that's true, the hype surrounding the mobile phone as a viable ad platform could soon become a reality as more users find a satisfactory browsing experience on their phones.

Last week, a study from Limbo and GFK/NOP Research found that 78 million Americans, or about one in three mobile users, had seen ads on their wireless devices.