Release the Kraken! Scratch that. Just a minute here…um, uh…OK, let’s try this again. Look out for Android! I know, I know…that’s not nearly as dramatic as commanding the release of the mythical Kraken, but it’s certainly something those of us in the industry should heed.
If I were to ask almost anybody on the street what the most popular smartphone is today, I bet that 9 out of 10 people would say the iPhone. And why not? There are several reasons to think that:
- Apple has smartphone market share that is second only to RIM (BlackBerry).
- Apple invented the whole App Store concept as we all now know it, and it boasts over 200,000 applications.
- Apple ships a lot of phones. According to Canalys, over 25 million iPhones were shipped in 2009 alone.
Now let’s change the question a bit. What if I were to ask what the most popular operating system is for a smartphone? Admittedly, the average person does not think about smartphones in this way, but the average application developer does. The answer to this question would not be too surprising for the most part. According to data just released by NPD Group, RIM still leads in this game with 36% of all smartphones sold in the US in the first quarter of 2010 running the BlackBerry OS. It probably also wouldn’t surprise anybody to know that Apple came in at 21% in the same study. Very impressive for a company that has essentially a couple of different flavors of the same smartphone. And remember, in the US Apple only runs on one carrier…AT&T.
There was a bit of a surprise in this most recent data though, and that was Android. Android is the open OS backed by Google. Like BlackBerrys, Android devices run on all the carriers and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Unlike BlackBerrys, Android devices are made by several manufacturers including the likes of Motorola and HTC. Here’s the surprising part…in the first quarter of 2010, 28% of all smartphones sold in the US were Android devices. That’s right, there are now more Android devices being sold in the US than there are iPhones being sold in the US. And guess what else. Android Marketplace (the Android App Store), now has over 50,000 applications listed on it.
Not only does Android have this type of momentum, but it has other things going for it:
- Many of the newest and slickest devices are Android devices. For instance, this summer Sprint and HTC will introduce the first WiMAX phone and it will be an Android device.
- AT&T just started offering Android devices in the last month or so. That means Android devices have lots of room to grow with AT&T subscribers.
- With Android 2.1, Android devices are starting to surpass some of the capabilities of the iPhone.
This doesn’t mean we should all sell our Apple stock. Far from it. So far Apple continues to innovate and make some interesting decisions in the market. Couple that with well designed devices, and a powerful brand, and Apple will continue to be a leader in the smartphone market. At least for the time being. But don’t count out Android. Android isn’t making as much noise as Apple, but they are quietly making their presence know in a big way in the market.
Android