Android tops BlackBerry, iPhone grows in US smartphone OS share
Google Android ousted Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform as the top-selling smartphone operating system in the U.S. for June quarter, while Apple's iPhone -- available in just two models and on one carrier -- took third.
Apple's iOS accounted for 22 percent of all domestic smartphone sales in the second calendar quarter of 2010, according to new data from the NPD Group released Wednesday. Android, for the first time ever, was the top mobile operating system with a 33 percent share. Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS took second, with 28 percent.
"For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple's iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch."
The top-selling Android phone in the second quarter was the Motorola Droid, followed by five phones from HTC: Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, Hero and Droid Eris.
RIM hopes to regain some footing with its newly-announced BlackBerry Torch. The new handset features a multi-touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, but its display could hurt it, Rubin said.
"Blackberry 6 will soon offer features that have been popular in recently launched Android handsets, such as support for capacitive touchscreens and a WebKit-based browser," he said. "However, the Blackberry Torch lacks the large screen allure that has characterized the best selling Android devices at its price point, including the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G."
Helping to push Android sales were promotional deals where customers can buy one, get one free. Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S., had a 33 percent units sold share in the quarter, based on the strength of its buy one, get one promotional offers on all RIM and Android models.
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., was number two in the quarter, with 25 percent of all unit sales. Sprint followed in third with 12 percent, and T-Mobile was the last of the biggest domestic carriers at 11 percent.
The iPhone last quarter single-handedly brought 860,000 new customers to AT&T, as the carrier activated a record 3.2 million iPhones in the June period. The global launch of the iPhone 4 resulted in 1.7 million sales in the first three days, the single largest product launch in Apple's history.
Apple's iOS accounted for 22 percent of all domestic smartphone sales in the second calendar quarter of 2010, according to new data from the NPD Group released Wednesday. Android, for the first time ever, was the top mobile operating system with a 33 percent share. Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS took second, with 28 percent.
"For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple's iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch."
The top-selling Android phone in the second quarter was the Motorola Droid, followed by five phones from HTC: Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, Hero and Droid Eris.
RIM hopes to regain some footing with its newly-announced BlackBerry Torch. The new handset features a multi-touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, but its display could hurt it, Rubin said.
"Blackberry 6 will soon offer features that have been popular in recently launched Android handsets, such as support for capacitive touchscreens and a WebKit-based browser," he said. "However, the Blackberry Torch lacks the large screen allure that has characterized the best selling Android devices at its price point, including the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G."
Helping to push Android sales were promotional deals where customers can buy one, get one free. Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S., had a 33 percent units sold share in the quarter, based on the strength of its buy one, get one promotional offers on all RIM and Android models.
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., was number two in the quarter, with 25 percent of all unit sales. Sprint followed in third with 12 percent, and T-Mobile was the last of the biggest domestic carriers at 11 percent.
The iPhone last quarter single-handedly brought 860,000 new customers to AT&T, as the carrier activated a record 3.2 million iPhones in the June period. The global launch of the iPhone 4 resulted in 1.7 million sales in the first three days, the single largest product launch in Apple's history.
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Apple's iOS accounted for 22 percent of all domestic smartphone sales in the second calendar quarter of 2010, according to new data from the NPD Group released Wednesday. Android, for the first time ever, was the top mobile operating system with a 33 percent share. Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS took second, with 28 percent.
Its not the market share that is important to consumers. Which company makes the most profits?
I'm not suprised. That's what buy one get one free gets you. #1 in sales.
Technically speaking, when comparing these OS numbers we?re not actually comparing sales, we?re comparing the OS install base. To compare sales we?d have to be comparing the devices from each vendor.
It?s expected that Android would be number one since it?s open to all vendors and it?s free, unlike BB OS, iOS, and WM. Frankly, I?m surprised it took Android this long, which is a testament to how well RiM and Apple are managed and possibly just how poorly these other handset vendors are at understanding the market as it wasn?t until they following their better?s lead that they finally learned to turn a profit in this new age of mobile computing.
As for those BoGo deals, it appears they're seriously working well for Verizon given that the phone might be 'free', but still requires both activation and a new contract -
Very Smart Move on Verizon's Part since it keeps the customer with the newest handsets at a bargain, and when it boils down to it, that's all the customer really cares about.
Apple is doomed.
Not even close, though their 'one phone fits all' mentality is facing some serious competition from those who offer similar/greater functionality in a variety of sizes/shapes/carriers/features sets.
Think Different ;-)
Its not the market share that is important to consumers. Which company makes the most profits?
As a consumer, why would that be important to me?. Actually, why would either question be important to me?. As a consumer, the only important question is if i want to buy your product. As a shareholder, which company makes the most profit is important. As a developer, which company has the most market share is most important.
What the anti-iPhone/anti-BB/pro-Android kids won?t understand is that any one of those vendors using Android would change places with RiM or Apple in a heartbeat.
Evidence? Proof?
...or is this merely your 'opinion/hope'?
Apple is doomed.
Not even close
I think iBIll's comment was most likely made in jest.
I think iBIll's comment was most likely made in jest.
Understood... given that the same response rears its inane head in almost every thread when we all know the truth
Evidence? Proof?
...or is this merely your 'opinion/hope'?
This is common sense so I guess that means I’ll have to explain it to you. These handset vendors are for-profit companies. That means they are trying make a profit. The more profit the better, so companies that make less profit from their handset sales would rather be in the position of their betters who make more profit from their handset sales.
Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S., had a 33 percent units sold share in the quarter, based on the strength of its buy one, get one promotional offers on all RIM and Android models.
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., was number two in the quarter, with 25 percent of all unit sales. Sprint followed in third with 12 percent, and T-Mobile was the last of the biggest domestic carriers at 11 percent.
Are there a lot of smaller wireless carriers in the US that are accounting for that 19% of smartphone unit sales not taken up by the big four? Or do these stats only account for sales made directly through the carriers, meaning the 19% could be coming from Best Buy et al.? If it's the former, it sounds like quite a large portion.
What the anti-iPhone/anti-BB/pro-Android kids won’t understand is that any one of those vendors using Android would change places with RiM or Apple in a heartbeat.
Quoted for truth.
There would still be Android phones, certainly, but there would be more BlackBerry phones (for the suitable demographic), and a whole mess of iOS variants. Android would just be a small part of the market. As it stands, though, Apple certainly would not want such a thing. It does not offer worthwhile profit in exchange for the many platform drawbacks one takes in this hit.
As a consumer, why would that be important to me?. Actually, why would either question be important to me?. As a consumer, the only important question is if i want to buy your product. As a shareholder, which company makes the most profit is important. As a developer, which company has the most market share is most important.
Actually as a developer it would be which company drives the most profit for the developer, wouldn't it? Marketshare is fine and can attract developers initially, but it will be the profitability of the platform for the developers that keeps them in place.
For example, Android now has a larger marketshare, but that share is largely in the pre-2.x space which restricts developers from using some of the better features found in 2.0 and upwards. This will give an new developer pause, and cost an established developer additional development cycles in order to keep the whole marketshare on-board.
A good companion piece to this article would be an analysis of the profitability of the developers market, looking both revenues from app pricing as well as revenue from ad placement.
Another one that would be good would be a study/profile of the dev shops involved in each, who is dedicated to a platform, who is devving cross-platform and their effective "loyalty" or what retains them.
Apple needs to be on carriers other than AT&T. Many people I know would love to get an iPhone, but they are not willing to switch network for it. When the contract came up, they bought Droids instead.
This.
Apple has already screwed up by playing hardball with Verizon. If the iPhone had been on Verizon, then you wouldn't see Verizon pouring all this money and marketing into Droids.
The fact is that Verizon is pushing these phones extremely heavily. Not just through tons of marketing, but also with their BOGO schemes. More importantly, its giving enough sales to manufacturers like HTC and Motorola to justify their involvement in Android.
This is not the end of Apple. If the iPhone hits Verizon (or Sprint + TMobile, which will be a similar additional marketshare) within the next year, they can still choke off Android. However, Apple is really letting go of many opportunities here.
Apple needs to be on carriers other than AT&T. Many people I know would love to get an iPhone, but they are not willing to switch network for it. When the contract came up, they bought Droids instead.
Android phones or actual DROIDs?
The difference being Android is a mobile OS (on many different networks/carriers) but DROID is a line of Verizon-exclusive smartphones.
As a consumer, why would that be important to me?. Actually, why would either question be important to me?. As a consumer, the only important question is if i want to buy your product. As a shareholder, which company makes the most profit is important. As a developer, which company has the most market share is most important.
As a developer, market-share, in and of itself, doesn't mean squat. What matters is how profitable the userbase is. In the case of Android, absolutely nowhere near the same ballpark as iOS. Also, things like ease of development matter. It is much easier to develop for iOS, and much easier to deploy to a huge fraction of that userbase. The Android userbase is split across many varied devices, with very different capabilities, screen sizes, etc.
Technically speaking, when comparing these OS numbers we’re not actually comparing sales, we’re comparing the OS install base...
Are you sure about that? The article reads "Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S., had a 33 percent units sold share in the quarter..."