Google announced during its I/O conference on Wednesday that activations of Android-powered devices had hit the 400 million unit mark as the company sees an average activation rate of 12 smartphones or tablets per second amounting to some 1 million each day.
The staggering numbers were revealed as part of a blog post from Google Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content Andy Rubin who was commenting on the plethora of announcements made during company's I/O conference keynote.
From the post:
More than 400 million Android devices have now been activated—up from 100 million last June. And twelve new Android devices are activated every every second—that?s more than 1 million a day.
In a rare tweet from the SVP noted by Business Insider two weeks ago and primarily meant to quash rumors of his departure from Google, Rubin let slip that over 900,000 Android devices were being activated daily. That number is up from December 2011 estimates that pegged the rate at 700,000 per day.
Google's Director of Product Management Hugo Barra reveals Android
activation rate at I/O 2012. | Source: Google
Rubin's statistics are of note given that a recent study from comScore showed Android smartphone share dipping during the month of April. The report Google's share of the market slip from 51 percent at the beginning of April to 50.8 percent by the end of the month while iOS gained ground over the same period.
Look at that. Even the font size Google decides to use in the '1M' are fucked up. Love that attention to detail
And each activation is worth $.10 to Google over the lifetime of that phone
Google makes essentially $0 from Android. And their overall mobile revenue is about to decrease substantially as Apple keeps reducing the number of Google powered iOS services on iOS. And, as it continues to move the user experience to apps which do not use/rely on Google Web search. That is reality
It's actually worse than that.
It has been widely reported that Google makes more from iPhone users than from Android users - because of the iPhone users' greater use of the Internet, on average.
So every person who chooses an Android phone instead of an iPhone is costing Google money.
1) Only 1 million per day means they are still slowing their growth rate. I would have thought that would actually thought they would be icnreasing it during a quarter with no new iDevice and the iPhone nearing the end of its current cycle.
2) When you make no money from an Android activation how many activations do you need to make money?¡
Clearly, they're including every POS phone that uses Android. And since Android is free, it is often used on POS phones.
Frankly, I couldn't care less if they had a billion phones. I've never seen one that I wanted to own.
Not they state devices. I hope that mean the anti-Apple/pro-Android crowd can start comparing Android to iOS instead of Android to iPhone but I'd wager that most of them still won't be able to understand why that would possibly matter. I won't even get into what truly matters to customers and companies because that might require some deductive reasoning.
Googles math is very fuzzy, so this means that if it continues this way google should have 700 million devices activated by the end of this year
I really dont believe these numbers, for instance what about returns, broken phones, upgrades to the os and many other possibilities. Not one android phone or device vendor will tell you actual numbers, they will only say "shipped". Apple actually does tell you real "sold" numbers in there quarterly filings there the only mobile device vendor that does.
And how many Android devices are returned, broken, thrown out window, etc...
Just what I was going to write.
With every 12 activated, there are 13 returned, broken, thrown out window, etc... for net gain of -1.
Pretty impressive.
So this includes all the cheapo tablets for sale at KMart, Marshall's, etc.
No, only the tablets sold with Google services and including a cellular connection, not the Chinese knockoffs. That means tablets only added about 2M devices to Android activation numbers.
What about a phone that is wiped and completely reinstalled?
A buddy was showing me how easy it is to root a phone and all that jazz. When it started back up it said "Activating with carrier", is that included in their 'Activated every second" count?
Honestly, I know more people who have ditched Android phones for iPhones. Even people who were staunch Android supporters dumped their phones. Especially after they bought new and two to three months later find out their 'new' phone wouldn't ever get Ice Cream Sandwich.
And a great number of those are Galaxy S and S2 variations (Epic, Skyrocket, etc) to appease the various telecoms. I imagine Samsung is quite happy to finally have enough market presence to resist carrier labeling under 50 different names for the same basic phone, thus the S3. Confusing as heck for buyers.
What about a phone that is wiped and completely reinstalled?
A buddy was showing me how easy it is to root a phone and all that jazz. When it started back up it said "Activating with carrier", is that included in their 'Activated every second" count?
No. Each device ID is counted only once. Rooting, resetting or selling your phone to another user doesn't get counted again. Devices that don't include Google services such as the Kindle Fire aren't counted either. Nor supposedly are Wi-Fi only tablets since there's no carrier "activation".
Does this translate into revenue or profit for Google? Nope.
Does this translate into a possible willing user base for developers to sell their apps to? Nope.
Google gets excited from this statistic because it's a possibility for a developer to build a mediocre app subsidized by Google advertising. Android users have so far shown an unwillingness to pay for apps, they instead prefer to download free, ad-sponsored apps. One possible reason for this is that they don't consider Android to be a platform worth investing in or they may not even consider Android to be a platform at all. If this is the case, then it means Android is doing nothing more than taking market share away from feature phones.
This is how I see things are going...
Consumer replaces old feature phone with Android based phone. They don't really do anything substantial with it, but kinda get a taste of the smart phone world. When it comes time to renew, if they're curious about doing more things with a phone as a mobile computer, they move to iOS, otherwise, they stick with Android. Now this obviously isn't every Android user, as some are enthusiasts and may actually prefer the experience, but a vast majority of consumers aren't interested, they just want a phone at the cheapest price and pretty soon all phones will have Android on them, more than likely running Android 2.3. (3.x was DOA, 4.0 requires too much hardware to be cost effective at the lower end.)
This is how iOS will continue to make gains as a platform (developer support, content, customer loyalty) and why Android will be just a mobile phone* market share statistic.
*No other tablet is going to become a viable contender to the iPad, until it has a strong platform with a thriving ecosystem to support it. Like the iPod, the iPad is not a must have device. The iPod was an elegant, convenient way to listen to your music or play media, but there were other traditional ways of doing this already. This is true for the iPad as well, there are other traditional ways of computing. Apple made it possible to do the same thing in a more intimate manner with the resources to support and enhance it.
Apple was never going to have a majority of the PC market, because they don't compete across the entire market. This is why they are never going to have a majority of the mobile phone market either. But they are very good at refining market segments and dominating them; portable media players, tablet computing and online digital content.
And a great number of those are Galaxy S and S2 variations (Epic, Skyrocket, etc) to appease the various telecoms. I imagine Samsung is quite happy to finally have enough market presence to resist carrier labeling under 50 different names for the same basic phone, thus the S3. Confusing as heck for buyers.
Actually you'll find everything from Tabs, low end phone's like the Fit, Mini S & S2, mid range like the W, a whole constellation of "smart" phones and devices.
This isn't remarkable at all given that the ComScore report is US only and Google's own "heat map" at this very event indicates that all their growth is in the middle east and the third world.
There is a video standard that most people in the US have never heard of --VCD or Video CD. It's a low rez, lo-fi standard wherein a full-length movie is crammed into a CD. It's used only in the third world and its only advantage is that everything about it is cheap. Okay, low cost. The media, the hardware requirements, and probably the licensing too.
I've always maintained that when the dust settles, Android will turn out to be the mobile OS of choice for the third world. It's got the same characteristics as VCD; cheap hardware, cheap licensing,and passable performance considering the price.
Anecdotally, it seems Android users replace their phones quite often. Is there a large market for used Android phones like there is for iOS devices? Or are they junked?
I'm on my third iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S) and my two previous phones are still being used by friends and family. Others I know have sold their phones on Craigslist.
My point being... Every new iPhone sold doesn't equal one additional user, but it's probably pretty close. Is it the same for Android? How many out of the hundreds of millions of Android devices activated are still in use?
The point is valid, as the only importance of the activations number that Google wags around (other than to boast over Apple) is tied to the implied large userbase to entice developers and garnish ad revenue for Google. Yet services that measure userbase or usage often have data that conflicts with Google's implied superior userbase.
No. Each device ID is counted only once. Rooting, resetting or selling your phone to another user doesn't get counted again. Devices that don't include Google services such as the Kindle Fire aren't counted either. Nor supposedly are Wi-Fi only tablets since there's no carrier "activation".
I'm not sure how they track that. Google Play doesn't access the IMEI number, AFAIK.
So let's say you activate a phone, then swap the SIM to move to a different network and activate it again. Probably counts as a separate activation.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Google announced during its I/O conference on Wednesday that activations of Android-powered devices had hit the 400 million unit mark as the company sees an average activation rate of 12 smartphones or tablets per second amounting to some 1 million each day.
The staggering numbers were revealed as part of a blog post from Google Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content Andy Rubin who was commenting on the plethora of announcements made during company's I/O conference keynote.
From the post:
In a rare tweet from the SVP noted by Business Insider two weeks ago and primarily meant to quash rumors of his departure from Google, Rubin let slip that over 900,000 Android devices were being activated daily. That number is up from December 2011 estimates that pegged the rate at 700,000 per day.
Google's Director of Product Management Hugo Barra reveals Android
activation rate at I/O 2012. | Source: Google
Rubin's statistics are of note given that a recent study from comScore showed Android smartphone share dipping during the month of April. The report Google's share of the market slip from 51 percent at the beginning of April to 50.8 percent by the end of the month while iOS gained ground over the same period.
Look at that. Even the font size Google decides to use in the '1M' are fucked up. Love that attention to detail
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHecta
How many iPhones to date?
250 million
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/06/27/after_5_years_apples_iphone_has_generated_150b_in_revenue.html
Given that Apple has apparently made $150 Billion in revenue I wonder how long before Google starts charging for Android.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Oak
Look at that. Even the font size Google decides to use in the '1M' are fucked up. Love that attention to detail
I think that's Google's Roboto font, with the "M" rendered as small cap.
It's actually worse than that.
It has been widely reported that Google makes more from iPhone users than from Android users - because of the iPhone users' greater use of the Internet, on average.
So every person who chooses an Android phone instead of an iPhone is costing Google money.
2) When you make no money from an Android activation how many activations do you need to make money?¡
Not they state devices. I hope that mean the anti-Apple/pro-Android crowd can start comparing Android to iOS instead of Android to iPhone but I'd wager that most of them still won't be able to understand why that would possibly matter. I won't even get into what truly matters to customers and companies because that might require some deductive reasoning.
I really dont believe these numbers, for instance what about returns, broken phones, upgrades to the os and many other possibilities. Not one android phone or device vendor will tell you actual numbers, they will only say "shipped". Apple actually does tell you real "sold" numbers in there quarterly filings there the only mobile device vendor that does.
With every 12 activated, there are 13 returned, broken, thrown out window, etc... for net gain of -1.
Pretty impressive.
So this includes all the cheapo tablets for sale at KMart, Marshall's, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris_CA
Android device, not Android phone.
So this includes all the cheapo tablets for sale at KMart, Marshall's, etc.
No, only the tablets sold with Google services and including a cellular connection, not the Chinese knockoffs. That means tablets only added about 2M devices to Android activation numbers.
What about a phone that is wiped and completely reinstalled?
A buddy was showing me how easy it is to root a phone and all that jazz. When it started back up it said "Activating with carrier", is that included in their 'Activated every second" count?
Honestly, I know more people who have ditched Android phones for iPhones. Even people who were staunch Android supporters dumped their phones. Especially after they bought new and two to three months later find out their 'new' phone wouldn't ever get Ice Cream Sandwich.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Google says 12 Android devices activated every second, 400M to date
Which includes the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.
Great statistic, Google. YOU CAN KEEP IT.
111 Galaxy's
Quote:
Originally Posted by hill60
111 Galaxy's
And a great number of those are Galaxy S and S2 variations (Epic, Skyrocket, etc) to appease the various telecoms. I imagine Samsung is quite happy to finally have enough market presence to resist carrier labeling under 50 different names for the same basic phone, thus the S3. Confusing as heck for buyers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aybara
What about a phone that is wiped and completely reinstalled?
A buddy was showing me how easy it is to root a phone and all that jazz. When it started back up it said "Activating with carrier", is that included in their 'Activated every second" count?
No. Each device ID is counted only once. Rooting, resetting or selling your phone to another user doesn't get counted again. Devices that don't include Google services such as the Kindle Fire aren't counted either. Nor supposedly are Wi-Fi only tablets since there's no carrier "activation".
Good for them, but...
Does this translate into revenue or profit for Google? Nope.
Does this translate into a possible willing user base for developers to sell their apps to? Nope.
Google gets excited from this statistic because it's a possibility for a developer to build a mediocre app subsidized by Google advertising. Android users have so far shown an unwillingness to pay for apps, they instead prefer to download free, ad-sponsored apps. One possible reason for this is that they don't consider Android to be a platform worth investing in or they may not even consider Android to be a platform at all. If this is the case, then it means Android is doing nothing more than taking market share away from feature phones.
This is how I see things are going...
Consumer replaces old feature phone with Android based phone. They don't really do anything substantial with it, but kinda get a taste of the smart phone world. When it comes time to renew, if they're curious about doing more things with a phone as a mobile computer, they move to iOS, otherwise, they stick with Android. Now this obviously isn't every Android user, as some are enthusiasts and may actually prefer the experience, but a vast majority of consumers aren't interested, they just want a phone at the cheapest price and pretty soon all phones will have Android on them, more than likely running Android 2.3. (3.x was DOA, 4.0 requires too much hardware to be cost effective at the lower end.)
This is how iOS will continue to make gains as a platform (developer support, content, customer loyalty) and why Android will be just a mobile phone* market share statistic.
*No other tablet is going to become a viable contender to the iPad, until it has a strong platform with a thriving ecosystem to support it. Like the iPod, the iPad is not a must have device. The iPod was an elegant, convenient way to listen to your music or play media, but there were other traditional ways of doing this already. This is true for the iPad as well, there are other traditional ways of computing. Apple made it possible to do the same thing in a more intimate manner with the resources to support and enhance it.
Apple was never going to have a majority of the PC market, because they don't compete across the entire market. This is why they are never going to have a majority of the mobile phone market either. But they are very good at refining market segments and dominating them; portable media players, tablet computing and online digital content.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
And a great number of those are Galaxy S and S2 variations (Epic, Skyrocket, etc) to appease the various telecoms. I imagine Samsung is quite happy to finally have enough market presence to resist carrier labeling under 50 different names for the same basic phone, thus the S3. Confusing as heck for buyers.
Actually you'll find everything from Tabs, low end phone's like the Fit, Mini S & S2, mid range like the W, a whole constellation of "smart" phones and devices.
Too bad they don't break down their sales.
There is a video standard that most people in the US have never heard of --VCD or Video CD. It's a low rez, lo-fi standard wherein a full-length movie is crammed into a CD. It's used only in the third world and its only advantage is that everything about it is cheap. Okay, low cost. The media, the hardware requirements, and probably the licensing too.
I've always maintained that when the dust settles, Android will turn out to be the mobile OS of choice for the third world. It's got the same characteristics as VCD; cheap hardware, cheap licensing,and passable performance considering the price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwdav
I'd love to see the breakout of that number by manufacturer and model ...
or by version. How many are on the latest version, < 10%?
Anecdotally, it seems Android users replace their phones quite often. Is there a large market for used Android phones like there is for iOS devices? Or are they junked?
I'm on my third iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S) and my two previous phones are still being used by friends and family. Others I know have sold their phones on Craigslist.
My point being... Every new iPhone sold doesn't equal one additional user, but it's probably pretty close. Is it the same for Android? How many out of the hundreds of millions of Android devices activated are still in use?
The point is valid, as the only importance of the activations number that Google wags around (other than to boast over Apple) is tied to the implied large userbase to entice developers and garnish ad revenue for Google. Yet services that measure userbase or usage often have data that conflicts with Google's implied superior userbase.
This is expected esp when you BOGOF.
I'm not sure how they track that. Google Play doesn't access the IMEI number, AFAIK.
So let's say you activate a phone, then swap the SIM to move to a different network and activate it again. Probably counts as a separate activation.