We all know that Android has done a remarkable job growing and expanding in the past year. However, I do not think any of us could have predicted just how much the maturing operating system has grown. Canalys, a research firm, is reporting today that Android OS has grown a whopping 886% year-over-year in the second quarter!
That is ridiculous growth for any product and shows just how popular Android is becoming worldwide. Here are some of the interesting statistics Canalys has gathered:
- Symbian OS took 38% market share worldwide in Q2 (41% year-on-year growth)
- Android had 23% market share (884% year-on-year growth)
- BlackBerry OS took 18% share (41% year-on-year growth)
- iOS came in with 13% share (61% year-on-year growth)
Apple's iOS displayed the second-best growth numbers, but as you can see, came nowhere near Android, which blew everybody else out of the water.
Android did just as well in the US with 34% market share during Q2, which is a growth rate of 851%. The enormous growth can be attributable to the large number of handset makers that have embraced Android, such as Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony.
The momentum is with Android at the moment and it has shown no signs of slowing. With more manufacturers entering the game, the operating system looks to have a bright future. [Canalys]
12 Comments
Gotta love this news!
I just wish these numbers would transition into apps support as well. I switched from an Iphone to and HTC Evo just over a week ago, and as much as I do love my Evo, the lack of certain apps compared to the Iphone does leave something to be desired. No Chase mobile banking, WebMD, Fed-Ex, or USPS apps, and CNBC RT app is still much better on the Iphone with news, and ability to save stories.
WebMd works fine from the WEB. That's why they put it in the name of the site.
There are great package tracking apps.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.minstech.tracker.activity
Why would you want one package tracker for each possible shippment mode, unless you simply like to fill your device with pointlessly redundant apps?
There is a Fed-Ex app. But on the flip side android is still building its OS. Slowly but surely android is soon going to be the best.
Where do you have the 23% from?
Canalys didn't disclose the worldwide Android number.
The US numbers are:
Android 34%
RIM 32.1%
Apple 21.7%
"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,’ said Canalys VP and Principal Analyst, Chris Jones, commenting on the publication. ‘In the United States, for example, we have seen the largest carrier, Verizon Wireless, heavily promoting high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid by Motorola and the Droid Incredible by HTC. These products have been well received by the market, with consumers eager to download and engage with mobile applications and services, such as Internet browsing, social networking, games and navigation.’ The United States smart phone market grew 41% year on year. It is the largest smart phone market in the world by a significant margin, with 14.7 million units accounting for 23% of global shipments in Q2 2010. "
Yeah maybe read my post again, then your post again?
I was talking about the 23% market share.
These figures, (and the commentary at the linked page) indicates that smartphones are killing off "feature phones" (razr) at an astounding rate.
To date, any head-to-head competition between smartphone models is meaningless compared to the wholesale cannibalization of the feature phone user base.
As much as I dislike Apple ... When I hear and read information like this i can't help but wonder how "fair" it stacks up ... You have Symbian, Rim, Android, and iOS comparing the popularity of the platform but through it all each one of those platforms has hundreds of phones per platform BUT Apple ... 1 phone ... These companies are comparing Android's popularity to iOS popularity based off of 100+ phones compared to 1 that basically hasn't changed since day 1 ... The platform is too simple and closed for my taste but I just can't get excited when you say this team is beating that team when this team has 100+ lineup and that team has 1 all-star ... Which brings me to the point why the OS is still young and many apps are as stable as they can be ... I am sure that developing for 1 phone is a lot less troublesome than developing for 100+ and updating constantly when new phones come out, which probably makes some devs shy away ... Slow the role on new devices and lets make the system beefier.
Android phones are competing against each other.
Two phones with the same OS doesn't mean twice as many sales. 100+ Android phones doesn't mean 100 times the sales. Not at all.
You don't have to feel sorry for Apple...
This is why it is fair... This is not a war of the hardware. It is a war of software. Mainly iOS vs Android.
Developers go where the numbers are (see: Mac vs. PC). When the tide turns and there are more users on Android OS than iPhone OS (and likely Blackberry OS) all of the development will shift to Android.
This is why the the comparisons are fair. Because the only thing that really has any meaning to us as users is how many of us are on what OS.
Also, there is more than one iPhone model out there and being sold today! People tend to forget that. And now you must count the iPads and the iPod Touchs if you are looking at iOS devices versus Android OS devices. But as these stats only cover the smart phone sector, they do tell an interesting story about where this has the potential to go!