Google’s Android operating system has overtaken Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s Blackberry OS in the US market, according to new data out from Nielsen. Android has secured 29 percent of the market, while iOS and Blackberry each hold 27 percent.
But that information alone doesn’t tell the whole story. The answer to who’s winning the US smartphone battle, says Nielsen, “depends on whether you’re looking at operating systems or manufacturers.”
Yes, Android wins if operating system is the only value taken into consideration. “But an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems,” Neilsen points out. That means one third of the smartphone-using population owns an iPhone, and another third owns a Blackberry device.
The 29 percent owned by Android breaks down like this: HTC devices running Android make up 12 percent, followed by Motorola handsets, which make up 10 percent of Android phones. Samsung falls in third place, with 5 percent. And then there’s 2 percent of “other.”
HTC devices running a Microsoft OS make up 7 percent of the smartphone market, the fourth largest single segment.
Nielsen also reports that Android is catching on most with the younger crowd, with 6 percent of those ages 18 to 24 opting for an Andoroid-based device, and 8 percent of the 25-34-year-old crowd doing so. That’s in minor contrast to 4 percent in the 18-24 bracket going for either an Apple or Blackberry device. (Apple is equal to Android in the 25 to 34 range. And RIM falls just slightly behind in that category, with 7 percent.)
Obviously, the gaps here are minimal, with the top three competing operating systems all taking about a third of the market. But this report does show that Android is still on the upswing, and is likely to remain so for some time.
I love Apple products as well, but its funny how Apple fan are so blind. The open source Android market will 5 years be the world standard just like how Microsoft Windows destroyed Apple in the 90s because of Apple’s selfish greed. Microsoft allowing Apple to have Windows Office allowed Apple to exist and prosper. Lets not forget that.
No, Android – the operating system – is not winning.
Android hasn't won any of the most important metrics and if you look at the iOS platform as a whole vs the whole Android platform, the latter hasn't necessarily even "won" the unit sales race. This is because smartphone sales per quarter are only part of the story. The far more important numbers for developers, advertisers, investors and consumers are *total* unit sales of each platform, overall installed base, software and peripheral hardware market share, developer mindshare and developer income.
*Unit Sales Q4 2010* (source: Canalys)
- 32.7 million Android smartphones and tablets (tablets like the Galaxy tab and Dell streak were counted in these numbers because they all have cell phone hardware).
- 33 million iOS devices (16 million iPhones, 10 million iPod touches, 7 million iPads)
Note that Android numbers are inflated by inclusion of the Tapas and OMS forks of Android (which aren't compatible with Android or running Google apps or services) running on millions of Chinese smartphones.
*Installed base*
- "There will be an installed base of 140 million Android portable devices, including smartphones and tablets, by the end of 2011" according to IMS Research.
- iOS installed base (Dec 2010) = 160 million with the vast majority of those added in the last 2 years.
With Apple shipping 33 million iOS devices in q4 2010, the projected iOS installed base will hit somewhere north of 250 million by the end of 2011 if current iOS sales rates stay the same. However, iOS sales rates have been doubling every year so this figure is enormously conservative.
Of course unit sales and installed base are completely useless unless they flow over into other areas like software, hardware peripherals, ad income, manufacturer profit share etc. Just look at Nokia where despite Symbian's overwhelming dominance of unit sales and installed base, they have completely failed by all the important metrics.
So let's now look at these other important measures of success for a platform:
*App Store Revenue 2009 – 2010*
(source: IHS):
- iOS App Store grew from $769 million to $1.782 billion = $1.013 billion increase
- Android Marketplace grew from $11 million to $102 million = $91 million increase
So annual Android developer income is a meagre 6% of iOS with an annual rate of increase only 9% as large as iOS. The gap between the two is getting far larger every year.
*App numbers 2009 – 2010*
(source: Distimo)
- iOS Apps grew from 120,000 to 400,000 = 380,000 increase
- Android Apps grew from 20,000 to 130,000 = 118,000 increase (not including ringtones, wallpapers and soundscapes)
So the annual increase in app numbers was greater for iOS by 322% compared to Android. The gap between the two is increasing each year with the iOS store growing over three times as fast as Android. Also, approx 45% of Android apps are spamware according to Appbrain so the real Android total is far less.
*Advertising income per user*
(source: Mobclix)
Mobclix's Jan 2011 stats demonstrate that in the Advertising game, iPhone users are far more valuable than Android users.
In the Games category, the average iPhone user brought in more than double the advertising revenue per month compared to the average Android user, a third more income in the entertainment category and 30% more in the utilities category.
Even on Google's home turf – advertising – iOS beats Android.
*Phone Manufacturer Profit Share*
(source: Asymco)
Despite only having a 4% share of the entire cell phone market, Apple captured 51% (up from 48% last year) of the profit share of the entire cell phone industry compared to Motorola on 1%, Samsung on 2%, LG on -2% and Nokia on 17%.
As such, while Android is doing well, it is years away from passing the installed base of Apple's iOS, is only neck and neck in terms of current quarterly unit sales and is failing badly in terms of app ecosystem, revenue and manufacturer profit share.
-Mart
So…Android is the most popular cell OS as the title portrays but…broken down by hanset makers Apple is still number 1. Really Samsung is the producer of the iPhone, Apple is the designer, so Samsung is number #1 with over 35% of the market. Good job Samsung, shame on you digital trend author spinning facts.