"We're number two" might not be the chant everyone's after, but we have a feeling that Google is more than satisfied with that in this case... for now. According to market research firm NPD, Google's Android operating system edged up into second place in the US smartphone market during the first quarter of the year, leaving it still well behind RIM's BlackBerry OS, but marking the first time that it has moved ahead of Apple's iPhone OS. Specifically, NPD found that RIM maintained a strong 36 percent market share for the quarter, with Android coming in at 28 percent, and iPhone OS in third at 21 percent. The growth for Android was attributed largely to strong carrier support -- like Verizon's buy-one-get-one free offer which, incidentally, also helped Verizon maintain a 30 percent smartphone market share, which is just slightly behind AT&T at 32 percent, and ahead of T-Mobile and Sprint at 17 and 15 percent, respectively.
Wow, I had no idea that the Android phones were selling that fast!
Sabre (Julian) 92.5% Stock 04 STI
Good choice putting $4,000 rims on your 1990 Honda Civic. That's like Betty White going out and getting her tits done.
Yea, Android has been eating everyone's lunch, and hitting on their girlfriends. You look at that graph and no one has gained market share in the last two quarters other than Android.
Jason "El Zorro" Fox '17 Subaru Forester 2.0XT
DCAWD - old coots in fast scoots.
I (mostly) enjoy my Android phone. It does lack in some key features... Even things that I'd consider to be "core" functionality. But it's got lots of potential and a very active developer community.
<rant>
That being said, every soft keyboard except Swype is a ing ABOMINATION.
</rant>
I'm excited to see what the next two or three major revisions in OS will bring to the table.
complacent wrote:<rant>
That being said, every soft keyboard except Swype is a ing ABOMINATION.
</rant>
If you have a DROID, the issue may be the fact that the touch screen is the worse on the market by a wide margin.
The issue is there isn't a multi-touch keyboard available for Android right now. You cannot make two discrete inputs on the keyboard at the same time. It really sucks [/i] for typing.
I wonder if, when that deal is up, whether Verizon would even bother offering the iPhone? If Android continues like it has, maybe adding the iPhone (and dealing with Steve Jobs) would no longer be in Verizon's best interest.
WRXWagon2112 wrote:I wonder if, when that deal is up, whether Verizon would even bother offering the iPhone? If Android continues like it has, maybe adding the iPhone (and dealing with Steve Jobs) would no longer be in Verizon's best interest.
--Alan
I think there is a very good chance of Verizon passing and sticking with Android, especially as it matures over the next couple years. I think Android has a higher likelihood of making revolutionary changes than iPhone OS.
That being said, my guess is Android market share in the US will stabilize at some point, maybe around the 40% mark, because there will always be RIM and Apple fanboys. Now, I probably had that same thought about Palm eight or nine years ago...
Jason "El Zorro" Fox '17 Subaru Forester 2.0XT
DCAWD - old coots in fast scoots.
Fresh off NPD's latest Mobile Phone Track report claiming that Android has leapfrogged the iPhone in US sales, Apple is commenting on the numbers -- and as you might expect, they're not exactly taking a congratulatory tone with Google. Speaking to AllThingsD's John Paczkowski, Cupertino had this to say:
"This is a very limited report on 150,000 US consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide. IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis. We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon."
The factual accuracy of Apple's words here can't really be disputed, but as Paczkowski notes, the context can: lumping the iPod touch into this equation isn't really fair, since NPD's report is about smartphones, not mobile operating systems (which would've let devices like non-phone Android MIDs into the picture). Besides, this is about the US market in the first quarter of 2010, not global sales, nor is it about Apple's development pipeline. In other words, Apple's not disputing NPD's report here -- rather, they're simply trying to change the subject, as any properly-trained PR department would. There's no question Android still has an uphill battle to dominate market (and mind) share the world over, but the odds that it outsold the iPhone in the US in Q1 remain very real.
Jason "El Zorro" Fox '17 Subaru Forester 2.0XT
DCAWD - old coots in fast scoots.
Don't Be Misled by Android Sales Stats
By Tony Bradley
Android has finally done it! For the first time ever, the volume of Android devices sold beat the volume of Apple iPhones sold for a given quarter. However, the statistics are misleading and point to a somewhat hollow victory.
As my PCWorld peers have pointed out, drastically reduced pricing, and aggressive buy-one-get-one-free offers from wireless providers create a false sense of success. Imagine how the stats might compare if AT&T started offering the iPhone 3GS for $50 with a buy-one-get-one-free incentive.
It reminds me of when Prince set CD sales records by giving away a copy of the Musicology CD with each concert ticket. The result on the music charts was that he "sold" 30,000 to 50,000 CD's every time he performed and captured the number one spot on the record charts.
I am as big a fan of Prince as the next guy (actually--probably a much bigger fan than the next guy since my Windows Media Player reports that I have 585 songs and I could play Prince for 44 straight hours without repeating any songs), but I can still see that there is a difference between true sales, and marketing sales gained through gimmicks and giveaways.
There are a couple other reasons that the sales figures from the past quarter are not really indicative of Android overtaking the iPhone. One of them is the iPad, and the other is the iPhone 4G (or whatever they end up dubbing the next-generation iPhone).
Many who might otherwise have purchased an iPhone this past quarter may have invested their discretionary income in the iPad instead. With over a million sold in under a month, there was obviously significant demand for the iPad tablet.
It is also probable that many who might be considering an iPhone, or upgrading an existing iPhone to a newer model are simply holding out for the iPhone 4G. While there is no official confirmation from Apple yet, history and multiple clues and unconfirmed rumors suggest that the new iPhone will be available sometime in June.
Another factor to consider is that the iPad is likely to drive iPhone sales, just as the iPhone is likely to drive iPad sales. One study reports that less than 9 percent of the initial iPad buyers also own an iPhone. However, the consistency of the interface and the ability to share apps between the two platforms are strong incentives for iPad users to get iPhones next time they're in the market for a smartphone. If 90 percent of iPad owners don't yet have an iPhone, that could translate to 900,000 plus iPhone 4G's right off the bat.
Don't get me wrong--I think that Android is a phenomenal mobile platform, and is definitely the primary challenger right now to the dominance of the iPhone. As Harry McCracken pointed out in his assessment of the Android stats, the diverse variety of Android handsets available from a wider range of wireless providers is a distinct advantage for Android. I am just saying that the numbers from this quarter don't really mean what they appear to mean.
Apple continues to lead in the statistics that matter most--revenue and profit. Apple recently reported a 90 percent increase in profit over the same quarter last year, and that was before it launched and sold over a million iPads.
Let's compare notes again next quarter--following the expected launch of the iPhone 4G and let's see how those stats stack up.
Jason "El Zorro" Fox '17 Subaru Forester 2.0XT
DCAWD - old coots in fast scoots.
ing ABOMINATION.
