Nokia has lost its overall market share leadership in the worldwide smartphone segment to Apple in mobile ads share, BNET Technology reports. According to statistics from AdMob, Apple’s iPhone received 49 percent of ad traffic in May, compared with 32 percent for Nokia.

Why is mobile ad share important? Because in the smartphone segment, the tail wags the dog — apps drive customer loyalty more than hardware features… Yes, Apple offers many more apps, and yes, it’s more geared to consumers than Nokia.

Nokia already realized about the power of mobile applications and contents. As we know, Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to the iPhone’s App Store.