Android sees huge growth through Jan. (what phone could have caused that?)

Take a look at the latest smartphone usage numbers from Comscore, and you're likely to do a double-take -- Android increased by 4.3 percentage points from November '09 through January 2010 over the three previous months, giving it a 7.1 percent share. There's no doubt that Android's popularity continues to grow. But those numbers likely can (and should) be attributed to the introduction of just one phone: The Motorola Droid, which launched in October 2009.

That's not to say we should discount the growth. But the simple fact is there are two ways to look at Android at the moment: Before Droid/After Droid. If we see the growth curve continue this stratospheric climb, we've got a friggin' movement on our hands. But we need a few more quarters under our belts first. [Comscore]

Phil Nickinson
15 Comments
  • "From tiny acorns mighty oaks are grown..." Phil.
  • drrroooooiiiiddd :)
  • Android and the like IS the future! Though is fantastic news. What about the rest of the world? I sell handsets for a living and o am a one man ad campaign for Android and have not failed to sell a Hero to anyone, regardless of age or sex.
  • BIG NEWS SO GIVE US DROID OWNERS 2.1 ALREADY. WE ARE PAYING UR SALARIES IDIOTS.
  • You can't discount the HTC Hero in this. There were a lot of unsatisfied Pre users on Sprint who jumped ship to the Hero which was also released in October. The fact that Palm dropped 2.1% backs this up.
  • I don't find any of this surprising because I keep tabs on Android and the Droid through two sites. While the above shows market share through January, the whole first quarter of 2010 will blow people's shorts up when they are released in the future. Here is an indication (in the U.S.) of Droid versus all Android phones except Droid versus iPhone. As of today, Droid alone has 7% market share in the U.S. Together with all other Android phones, the market share is 16%. (Keep in mind the iPhone share in this chart includes the iPod Touch) http://getclicky.com/marketshare/us/droid/ Here is another site that you can tailor to show U.S. or Worldwide or any country in particular. U.S. from Sept.09 to today:
    http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-US-weekly-200936-201010
    [I like this graph because it breaks out the iPod Touch. Look what just touched the Touch. :D] Here's Worldwide, Android has topped 6%!
    http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-weekly-200936-201010
  • When I dropped Windows Mobile and jumped to Android with the N1 on January 6th I added to these statistics!
  • The right hand column should really show percentage growth, rather than percentage of the market gained, as a way of showing each platform's relative momentum. Just some quick calculations yield these results: RIM: 4.1% growth Apple: 1.2% growth Google: 253.6% growth
  • You guys are such Droid fanboys....Does no one remember the myTouch selling out? And I see so many people with Eris's/Hero's nowadays....People like the iPhone form factor.
  • Yes, but Droid has had the most advertisement. So people see that, maybe they didn't get the droid but another android based phone. Could be a number of things, the network they are on etc.
  • Whats even more suprising is that Palm lost market share. Do I hear "taps" playing?
  • My question is this: with a phone like the Droid on the market, where the hell did the iphone get +.3%?
  • Thanks for sharing these info with us! I was reading something similar on another website that i was researching. I will be sure to look around more. thanks...
    Submitted by Clasamente on 15.06.2010
  • Interesting. I see Droid having a huge market share within only 2 or 3 years though. The iphone is good, but not great...let's see about the 4. And Blackberry sucks for anything but business so it's going to lose it's number one spot. California Bankruptcy Attorneys I
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  • Very interesting thing. I don't have a smartphone but i'll buy one because this is the future. Thanks Biletul Zilei