News
Android passes RIM, iOS as top U.S. smartphone OS
According to the latest data from comScore, Google’s Android OS has passed both RIM’s BlackBerry OS and iOS to become the most popular smartphone platform in the U.S. Android jumped 7.7 percentage points between October 2010 and January 2011 to claim a 31.2 percent share fo the market, followed by RIM, which fell 5.4 percentage points to a 30.4 percent share, and Apple’s iOS, which gained a tenth of a percentage point to hold a 24.7 percent share of the market. Apple was also mentioned in the list of top mobile OEMs in the U.S., as its seven percent share of the overall mobile phone market was good for fifth place, following RIM, Motorola, LG, and Samsung.
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1
Just because the android Platform is on more phones, does not make it the most popular. I have Had both an iPhone and an Evo. There are a few good things on android. iOS is much more reliable. My Evo would crash, freeze up, and just let me down too many times. I am back with Apple to stay.
Posted by Danny Milton on March 7, 2011 at 2:39 PM (PST)
2
Which version of Android? 1.7, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, or 2.5? With dozens of different models coming out each week, with accompanying dozens of variations of OS’s and overlays, some which can be updated but most not, Android is just a fragmentation festival in a nice handheld package. And I am a Android user as well as an iPhone user. My work phone is a NexusOne, which I like, it just got the Gingerbread update over the weekend. But I really feel for the users of other phones that can never be updated.
Posted by Glenn on March 8, 2011 at 3:54 AM (PST)
3
Apple is a single firm setting the tone for not only an industry but for a marketplace as well.
It is given that Android platforms will exceed iOS platforms in the long run. You have X number of firms competing against themselves and Apple to gain market share.
If you stop and think about it, the base true blue Apple user won’t switch to Android and vice versa. One thing lost on many is that Apple will not suffer the cannibalization issues the other handset makers must contend with. If Motorola Mobility loses a customer to Samsung—the Android user base is net even, but Motorola Mobility has lost a customer and Samsung has gained. That issue doesn’t exist in the iOS world.
Stop and look at the one statistic the market always takes to heart - market cap. Apple who is around $329B is larger than Motorola Mobility ($8B), RIM ($34B), Nokia ($32B), Dell ($30B) and HP ($93B) combined. Argue all you want, the market currently has priced Apple as a winner.
Posted by Charles Farley on March 8, 2011 at 9:43 AM (PST)
4
I am sure that if iOS were available on a dozen manufacturers’ myriad of devices, it would far out-sell any other OS.
Exclusivity does have its limitations, but at least we (as iOS users) know that when it’s releasedfor our iDevices, it’s actually designed specifically for the said devices’ capabilities and not a plethora of different devices with different spcs and capabilities.
Posted by Handsome Dan on March 8, 2011 at 4:53 PM (PST)
5
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The only reason I have an Android-based phone is because Sprint (my carrier of choice whose plans rock) doesn’t have an iPhone. The MOMENT they do, my HTC EVO (which I love) gets tossed into a snowbank/pond/craigslist and that iPhone is mine.
Posted by Daniel S. on March 10, 2011 at 6:25 AM (PST)