Android passes iPhone in U.S. smartphone share

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Android passes iPhone in U.S. smartphone share

Google’s Android operating system has overtaken Apple’s iPhone OS to become the number-two smartphone OS in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest data from The NPD Group. Based on unit sales to consumers for the quarter, Android moved in to second place with 28 percent of the market, trailing only BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s 36 percent. iPhone OS came in third with 21 percent. Among carriers, AT&T held the lead in smartphone sales with 32 percent of the market, followed by Verizon Wireless with 30 percent, T-Mobile with 17 percent, and Sprint with 15 percent. “As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. “In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones.”

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Comments

1

I think it would be more surprising if that weren’t the case. After all, the iPhone OS is only available on one U.S. carrier, so to have that operating system still be third with a hair over 20 percent market share is pretty impressive.

The market share numbers will be more interesting to see once AT&T exclusivity ends and iPhone becomes available on more than one U.S. carrier.

Posted by cxc273 on May 10, 2010 at 10:47 AM (PST)

2

The other interesting note is that Android is on a wide variety of handsets, at a wide variety of different pricing points. From the top of the line phones like the Sony Ericsson X10 and Nexus One to low end Samsungs. So while the iPhone comes in three flavours and priced between $99 - $299 Android phones start at free.

The other thing is that I’m pretty sure that Apple makes more per iPhone than the Android makers are earning per unit.

Posted by Jeffery Simpson on May 10, 2010 at 12:24 PM (PST)

3

One more note to consider are the buy one/get one promotions that some carriers are currently using. Verizon, for example, offers Android phones in this deal. So many sales actually count twice. Not that this is sketchy accounting. It is just an item that needs to be accounted for.

I understand why we would pit iPhone OS against Android for usability and feature comparisons. But why are we comparing device sales? This is not really an apples-to-apples comparison. Like others have stated, Android is on MANY handsets from MANY carriers. It should be outselling the iPhone OS that is on one carrier and two handsets (the pre-3G iPhone is no longer tracked in sales figures as it is out of production).

Posted by Mitch on May 10, 2010 at 4:40 PM (PST)

4

Your “view” of this news is incorrect.

iPhone OS still holds a larger market share. The data is only stating that Android outsold iPhone for the first three months of this year. It still has a long way to go to topple the number of iPhone OS users. Which is kind of how your post reads.

Posted by Jason Mauldin on May 10, 2010 at 6:35 PM (PST)

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