So of course I am adding to this clutter of information with my post this morning but I hope to distill down some of the information into easy-to-consume pieces of information and provide you with a list of recommended reading. What a helpful teacher I am :)As I was browsing through 500+ new stories that have been gratefully placed into my RSS news reader overnight it was difficult not to notice a prolific amount of information about the rise of Android as the dominant smartphone operating system (OS).
The last time I reported on Android vs iPhone marketshare it was in April and Android was just ahead with 28% to Apple’s 26%.
Brian Fella from Digital Ministry has retraced the steps of 2010 and pulled out some key highlights:
- 2010 was Year of the Apple product but in the last year, Apple doubled the number of applications in their store but Android grew six-fold
- There has been 886% global growth in Android smartphone uptake
- Companies who have invested in apps for the Android smartphone market are reaping the benefits now as the platform grows
Ars technica goes into more detail and talks specifically about Samsung as a driving force in the Android marketshare.
- Apple’s biggest rival, Samsung, is now holding the number two spot in both mobile and smartphone market share – it is believed that Apple could be at risk of losing their #1 spot if they can’t keep up with demand when the iPhone5 releases later this year as Samsung will go head to head with the release of its Galaxy S II handset
- In Q2 of 2011 there are now 365 million smartphones globally, according to market research firm IDC
- Apple has overtaken Nokia as the world’s preferred smartphone vendor (the bulk of Nokia’s mobile revenue comes from its inexpensive mobile phones worldwide. Sales of “normal mobiles” were down 16% in the last year) but Nokia retains its supremacy as the top mobile vendor in the world (for the time being)
- Chris Foresman reminds us that Samsung is still the world’s #2 mobile vendor, despite an increase of 10% in shipments and LG is ranked #3 but has seen a 19% drop in sales over the same period
- This is compared with Apple’s 142% growth, bringing it within 1 point of LG’s #3 place “If current trends hold, Apple could become the number three mobile phone vendor in just over four years.”
And as usual, my favourite and the hero of the day, Nielsen Online gets right into the nitty gritty and explains to us the difference between a smartphone mobile phone vendor and a smartphone or mobile manufacturer. And it seems that in the US market, Android is the top operating system (OS) for smartphones but Apple is the top manufactuer.
- Google’s Android operating system (OS) has the largest share of the U.S. consumer smartphone market with 39 %. Apple’s iOS is #2 with 28%, while RIM Blackberry is down to 20%
- Apple is the only smartphone manufacturer of the iOS operating system and a clear #1 in the US
- HTC has about 14% of the smartphone market and Motorola has about 11% of the Android OS market while Samsung is about 8%
And here is Nielsen’s representation of the Smartphone Manufacturers Operating System Market Share:
