Android crushes iPhone in US market growth during Q2
by Steven Mostyn - Aug 3 2010, 05:28
Quickly becoming the smartphone Dalek. Image: Android/Google.
The words ‘iPhone killer’ are seemingly banded about each and every time a new upper-tier smartphone device hits the market – yet Apple’s handset rolls on unscathed. That being said, Google’s Android operating system is looking increasingly like a genuine threat.
More pointedly, the latest batch of figures from Canalys Smart Phone Analysis has revealed that U.S. growth attributed to smartphone devices equipped with the Android platform has risen by a jaw-dropping 886 percent during the second quarter.
By comparison, Apple, while still showing positive growth, only improved by 61 percent, while Canadian smartphone specialist Research In Motion (RIM) pushed on by 41 percent via its BlackBerry line – both notably below the average market growth percentage.
“The latest release of our detailed and complete country-level smart phone shipment data for Q2 2010 clearly reveals the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world,” commented Canalys principal analyst Chris Jones regarding the popularity of Google’s platform.
Despite the emerging appeal of Google’s Android operating software within smartphone devices, Nokia remains the world’s leading handset manufacturer after shipping some 23.8 million phones during Q2 – a year-on-year improvement of 41 percent.
Growth attributed to the whole smartphone sector is also on the rise, according to Canalys, with the market moving forward by 64 percent year-on-year.
Supporting the numbers offered up by Canalys, a new U.S. consumer report from Nielsen Co. has shown that 27 percent of smartphone buyers chose Android phones during the first half of 2010, while 23 percent tabled their cash in favour of the iPhone.
Of course, it is worth noting that Google’s Android software is available on dozens of smartphone device manufactured by many different vendors (i.e., HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung). The iPhone is a single platform made by Apple – and only Apple.
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