Motorola Droid handled second-most Google Android traffic

Motorola Inc.'s Droid handled the second-most traffic among mobile phones equipped with Google Inc.'s Android operating system two weeks after the handset's introduction, according to market researcher Admob Inc.

Droid, launched on Nov. 6 to compete against Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, represented 24 percent of all requests from Android phones as of Nov. 18, according to estimates by the San Mateo, California-based research firm. That's second to HTC Corp.'s Dream phone, which had 36 percent of Android traffic, according to Admob, a mobile advertiser being bought by Google.

Motorola introduced the Droid to capitalize on demand for smart phones that allow users to browse the Internet and download movies with their handsets, the fastest growing part of the mobile-phone industry. The Schaumburg-based company's shipments of mobile phones tumbled 43 percent last quarter, according to estimates by research firm Gartner Inc.