The fact that Android is doing well shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone; lots of figures already prove that. New figures from research firms Gartner and IDC from the second quarter of 2010 show that not only is Android doing well in the United States – it’s doing well in Foreign as well. Worldwide, Android has soared past iOS, and is closing in on Research In Motion’s BlackBerry – just one percentage point left. Symbian is still the undisputed king of smartphone land, with more installations sold than RIM and Android combined.
I’m focussing on the Gartner figures, since they provide a little more detail in their press release (the full set of figures are behind a paywall, as usual).
While we already knew that Android was doing very well in the US, it looks like it’s also doing well worldwide. Year over year, the growth figures are absolutely ridiculous: in the first quarter of 2009, Android had a worldwide market share of 1.8% (755900 units) – in the second quarter of 2010 this rose to 17.2% (10.6 million (!) units). Quarter over quarter, Android went from 9.6% in Q1 2010 to 17.2% in Q2 2010. Yeah, it nearly doubled in three months.
“A non-exclusive strategy that produces products selling across many communication service providers (CSPs), and the backing of so many device manufacturers, which are bringing more attractive devices to market at several different price points, were among the factors that yielded its growth this quarter,” Gartner said.
Apple’s iOS – on the iPhone at least – also saw it’s market share grow, with 13% (5.3 million units) in Q1 2010 and 14.2% (8.7 million units) in Q2 2010. However, the overall smartphone market grew much faster, so the increase in unit sales for the iPhone simply couldn’t keep up.
Strangely enough, Symbian isn’t a total loser here. While it does hemorrage market share, unit sales are still way up, from 20.8 million to 25.3 million. Still, this doesn’t match the overall growth of the market, and as such, Symbian loses ground to iOS and Android. RIM’s sales were up as well, but again, not enough to prevent a slight decrease in market share.
Stepping off our mobile platforms to look at device manufacturers, the picture is pretty much the same: Samsung and HTC are both seeing crazy increases in sales because of Android, while both Apple and RIM are doing pretty decent too. We’re also seeing something else we know from the computer market: average selling prices are dropping, but they’re dropping faster for those that don’t ship iOS devices. Which is everyone but Apple, obviously.
Only a portion of iPhone 4’s impact is included in these figures, so the next quarterly figures ought to be real interesting. Apple may be able to fight back slightly, but they won’t be able to stop the Android invasion by any means. Google’s mobile operating system is poised to become the market leader sooner rather than later – Symbian will be though to overtake, but it won’t take longer than 18-24 months.
In the smartphone market, at least. These figures don’t include the iPod touch and iPad, which are, of course, iOS devices as well.
There are now more mobile Linux installation than desktop Linux installation.
Actually, when I think about it… there must be more Linux phones than OSX and Linux and BSD desktops combined…
Edited 2010-08-12 14:23 UTC
That’s not something surprising, right ? My humble subjective observation of the mobile market in my own country, Bulgaria, is that Symbian is still leading – mostly due to the fact that older or uninformed users are still tied to the “Nokia is good” moto, so they will buy Nokia regardless of what’s running under the hood. Yes, I know Samsung and SE also have Symbian based devices, but still Nokia is definitely leading over here. Andrioid, on the other hand, has made a great invasion with the so-popular-recently various HTC phones.
In their defence, the “Nokia is good” notion is not completely unfounded. Nokia has managed to keep the interface of their phones simple and logical and once you learn to use one Nokia phone you can use most of their others. Lots of their batteries are interchangeable (example: there’s the same battery in 1101, 6230 and 2730, which are very different generations and classes of phones). They have one charger type and only the connector differs (thick jack, thin jack, microUSB) but you can get adapters and basically use one charger for any Nokia phone. They have standardized on SD and microSD cards. Decent PC backup and connectivity tools. They’re durable and come in a great variety for all price and feature ranges. Not to mention that they’re everywhere: available in all retail shops and probably subsidized by carriers as well, am I right?
Recap: rich offer, good quality, reusable skill and chargers, widely available. I’m not surprised Nokia is held in high regard, at least as far as feature phones are concerned. Smartphones may be another matter, we’ll see.
And when MeeGo will kick in – there will be even more.
When MeeGo kicks in, there will be more REAL linux phones.
Kernel is all Android has from GNU/Linux. In practice android could effectively switch to another kernel (*BSD, or even a proprietary one like QNX) without skipping a beat.
I was about to ask how long it will take before people start to turn on Android, now that it’s not longer the under, to support a new underdog. Same thing happened to Ubuntu/Fedora.
At talk.maemo.org, I quote Thomas Perl’s funny observation in my signature:
“Android is John the Baptist; MeeGo is Jesus”.
Android is a message of things to come, and it keeps the world from falling into complete darkness (iPhone). However, it is not (as a google-specific Java sandbox) the final way to the *true* Linux userland of milk and honey, which needs to be established by MeeGo.
(obviously I’m a Nokia shill, but don’t let that distract you from the message).
I have to give you points for admitting to religious fervor.
However, why do I care of it’s *ze pure* Linux userland versus what Android has?
This is turning into some indierock Pete stuff: http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/2140
You probably don’t care, but people who are interested in future success of Linux on the desktop do (well, at least those with understanding of the internals). Android doesn’t benefit Linux (the technology stack) anymore than a router running Linux does. It’s nice to say you have a Linux phone, but with Android your words are shallow.
actually linux IS the kernel, that is ALL it is.
so if you say gnome or kde are linux, look at what freebsd runs, it is not in the least the same.
so android is a linux phone and meego or whatever is a linux phone that simply uses different applications than android that happen to be related to the ones you have available on your common distribution.
of course I would love to see some kde mobile stuff that got some love
That’s the same bullshit argument that got old about the time the term GNU/Linux did.
When (non-GNU/Linux) people mean just the kernel, they say “Linux kernel”.
So wait, what is it that you think is Linux, that isn’t in the Android phone?
Anything used to draw on screen, for starters.
But that’s not Linux though, beyond some kernel interfaces. It’s X and Gnome/KDE/QT/GTK+, which could all run on a BSD as well as it could on Linux.
For all practical purposes, *BSD is an unpopular distribution of Linux ;-).
For all practical purposes, *BSD is an unpopular distribution of Linux ;-). [/q]
There’s some truth to that, but how still is Android not *real* Linux?
The kernel of Android is essentially forked into its own branch, separate from the Linux kernel. MeeGo functions in the Linux Foundation / in mainline.
I’m still not getting any distinction between Android and “real” Linux. Most distros use their own kernel, customized to their own needs, especially for embedded and specialized devices, like smartphone hardware.
Do you have a specific example of something drastically different, or are we just talking about ‘lectrolytes here (it’s what plants crave).
Edited 2010-08-16 04:18 UTC
Android basically has a kernel forked into its own branch, developed outside of the mainline, with past commits unmaintained and eventually deleted. It might be based on Linux, but is not exactly Linux at this point…
MeeGo lives within the Linux Foundation.
Hang on, I thought the iPhone was the “Jesus Phone”?
I caved to the dark side and bought an iPhone 4. It felt wrong, but I’m not sorry. They made me stare at this spinning wheel for a while which was weird.
I now realise that Apple was right. I love the leader.
I really wish that were true. There are many reasons why I would prefer Meego. However, there are not many carriers in the US that have a very good relationship with Nokia. So out of contract seems to be the only way right now to get a Nokia phone ( like the 900). You aren’t going to see mass adoption in the US until that changes.
A funny quote, but it worries me to think that The Register calls “that” other phone ‘Judas Phone’.
Write portable code and don’t worry too much about bogus data. Market share goes up and down anyway.
It’s not possible to write portable mobile applications. Mobile platforms use different programming languages and provide different frameworks (java for android, C++ for iOS and C++/Qt for symbian).
Additionally, I don’t think apple would accept the utilization of an additional framework on top of iOS to achieve platform independance anyway.
Then you are doing it wrong, they all support HTML, CSS, JS. ‘HTML5’ allows for sharing most of the code.
It’s even possible to have a really short approval time and it just needs to be approved ones if you don’t change anything else of the application.
Here some links:
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/03/html5_apps.html
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/03/the_payment_arg.htm…
Edited 2010-08-12 16:02 UTC
Those links provide poor arguments.
From ‘the payment argument is nonsense’:
The counter-argument is that the HTML5 app route doesn’t allow developers to get paid. That’s true — for now. (I expect the mobile operators to start offering a payment system in the next two to three years.)
So it’s a non-sense argument except for the part about getting paid.
There is also no code protection for HTML5 apps. It’s open source javascript.
Oh and I like how the author hasn’t written any of these HTML5 mobile apps and yet wants everyone to switch to them.
You can obfuscate javascript. Also, you can make a for-pay backend to your client web app.
Also (as you well know) seeing the source doesn’t make it open source. You can’t distribute a derived work of a javascript program if the license forbids it.
Not nearly as well as code that compiles. There is even a Javascript Deobfuscator plugin:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10345/
The concern wouldn’t be with people who are looking to redistribute the code. It would be with competitors who want to see how you built your app. In most cases simply showing the open code cuts out at least half of the development time. It’s akin to the time involved with coming up with words for a story, which is much greater than the time involved than the physical process of writing them.
Creating a mobile HTML5 app is a huge jump from creating an HTML5 compatible website. The author doesn’t understand how much additional work is involved with not having an API, SDK or payment gateway. Then you also have security issues, hosting, user accounts, and a myriad of other problems that HTML5 does not solve. You also lose the benefit of being able to run the app locally.
Oh and let’s not forget the final joy of HTML5 which is that you get to choose between Javascript and Javascript.
It’s certainly doable for free Flash type games that people make for fun but to suggest it as a viable alternative to iphone or android development is unrealistic.
Actually only Android and iOS restrict the language you can use. You are not forced to use QT on Symbian. Anyway, you can always separate the logic of your program from the toolkit. Several software vendors do that.
I really hate this iPhone (1 or 2 active product lines) vs. Android (Many many different product lines across many Cell manufactures) vs. others.
In really they all fill different market segments, and are to attract different people. I think the iPhone is hurting RIM more then competing against Android. As the iPhone is just a more subjectivly “classy” phone and really good for business use, which was RIM’s main business.
Android is taking the more is better approach and is competing against and taking over the non-smart phone market, hence it big rise.
The iPhone made smart phones cool. Android brought them to the masses.
Oddly enough they are not really in that much competition with each other. There are some people who will need to choose between an android vs. and iPhone. But for most it is an easy decision.
I beg to differ. iPhone is a toy with lots of games and no keyboard. Business users need qwerty.
Do you really feel the need to do p.r. work for Android when it is doing well? The iphone has a touch keyboard, maybe you should try one sometime.
Anyways
4 out of 10 of our iPhone sales to enterprises
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/at-t-exec-4-out-of-10-of-our-iphone-s…
Edited 2010-08-12 19:02 UTC
I don’t see touch keyboards cutting the mustard for serious, extended typing (that people in business of actually getting work done have to do on occasion).
That’s because companies pay for the phones, and allow users to choose a phone for themselves; people choose them for freetime use instead of considering their work productivity.
I think that’s a stupid thing for a company to do. They should specify a phone among the alternatives that have been deemed good for business use (email, web, document viewing, text authoring on the go, connectivity).
Well maybe you should spend some time with one. I tried half a dozen slide out keyboards and didn’t type any faster on them.
But more importantly smartphones are not designed for extended typing, that’s the job of laptops.
Go to any hospital and you’ll see that half the doctors have iphones. But you would probably assume that they have them for doodle jump and not epocrates.
The iphone is heavily used by a variety of business users, sorry if this conflicts with your belief of it being a toy. It does have a great game selection which adds to the appeal. Android games would be better if Google defined hardware classes instead of the current situation where developers have to target the lowest common denominator.
Luckily not in Finland. Hospitals are funded by taxes here; at the moment hospital uses taxpayer euros to buy iPhones, it’s time to kick out the hospital administration.
Subjective and total crap to boot. What users prefer is what they need. Personally I wouldn’t touch one of those so-called “real” keyboards with a barge pole, not that I would be able to with the size of the “keys” anyway, and I guarantee I use my iPhone for just as many “business” applications as anyone, and a shitload of “techy” applications to boot. Please don’t try to make out a particular market segment “needs” what is your preference. People will make their own decisions, just as they do with the devices and OSes.
Generally using the majority of physical keyboards on phones you can get a higher wpm than using any touch keyboard, this is doubly true if you have to mix symbols and numbers. There are some keyboards that are really bad, but that is not the tendency.
Now of course you give up either screen real estate of increase the bulk of the phone by adding qwerty. Personally I would use physical over screen any day and I have very “sausagy” fingers. I have yet to try swipe but any standard soft keyboard tends to get frustrating.
You really want to claim that the new Android phones are anything less than Iphone 4?
Android, RIM, Nokia, and Apple will have their market shares, Wphone7 will become another Zune as they are sharing same OS…
Nah, WP7 phones will be popular with business users who just want to sync outlook or connect to an exchange server.
The problem with Zune HD is that it doesn’t have the app store and as such can’t compete with the ipod touch. WP7 will appeal to a much wider demographic.
One downside to Android is that it doesn’t have offline movies. WP7 will have Xbox live connectivity and their media is pretty good.
People exchange their phones every few years so this will be an ongoing competition.
Even my N900 does this…
Activesync (the out-of-firewall used by exchange) is not rocket science, it’s wbxml over https. Yes, Microsoft managed to make an unobfuscated protocol ;-).
I think WP7 will attract a following by its aesthetics which are a big contrast against iPhone and Android.
It’s not just an issue of comparable functionality, it’s also the expectation that an MS phone will sync nicely with MS software.
Like it or not it is a safe assumption that many business users will have.
But even beyond that point there will be Office integration that Android won’t be able to provide.
Yeah, and we can expect MS to beef up their office suite to integrate more tightly with the phones for maximum lock-in.
They are playing the long game with WP7. I’m amazed how shortsighted the gadget press is about seeing launch of WP7 as a “make or break” moment.
Could someone please explain to me what “offline movies” are? I keep hearing about them, but no one seems to be able to explain what they are. I tried to Google the term but the only references are in online forums where no one explains what this means, just that Android doesn’t have it.
… but still a nice read. Thom’s English has had better days though.
It’s August 12 today. That’s the date of their press releases. It’s not yesterday’s news.
And as for my English – well. Gelukkig is dat niet de enige taal waarin ik mij verstaanbaar kan maken
.
Edited 2010-08-12 15:59 UTC
For those left wondering:
“Luckily that isn’t the only language which I can use to make myself heard”
And no english is not my native language either. 🙂
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कहने के लिठOSNews यूनिकोड साथ तारकीय काम करता है कम से कम.
I apologize. I thought this was yet another regurgitation of a different Android sales figure, combined with some of Gartner’s projections that have been out there for a while as well. Reading OSNews at work is a great way to skim articles and jump to conclusions, after all.
As for the English: persoonlijk praat ik ook Frans, Duits en aardig wat Latijn. Laten we het daar vooral verder over hebben.
Being in South Korea now, I can confirm that Android is being *heavily* advertised here; different handsets are being branded as Android ones, and not primarily with the manufacturer’s marque; from what I have seen on the subway and out on the street, the iPhone on the other hand has not made massive inroads.
Despite the foregrounding of Android as a marketing ploy, the power of the likes of Samsung to push the operating system flavour of the month cannot be underestimated; friends say that they have been practically duped, for example, by Samsung’s marketing wizards, hitherto to purchase Windows-powered phones. If Samsung gets significantly behind Android, it will be a powerful combination in Google’s favour in more ways than one, since it may also get Google into the search space more in this Internet-friendly but Web idiosyncratic country.
Apple, for all it’s global cool, also doesn’t really have a local face anywhere; this is the way in which Google will trump Apple in the end, and being ‘open’ to inflection will pay dividends.
People will want all those localized features they were used to from their featurephones, including paying things with your phone. Only a customizable OS will deliver that.
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