Google's mobile platform has a ways to go before it can even think of surpassing the smartphone market share of RIM or Apple, but Android's been buoyed by a flurry of good news that points to greener pastures â although a recent hiccup with Google's would-be flagship phone, the Nexus One, should give the big brains in Mountain View a moment of pause.
Android's market share on the rise
When it comes to smartphone market share in the U.S., the 800-pound gorilla is still RIM and the BlackBerry, with a commanding 42.1-percent slice of the pie (according to the latest figures from comScore). Up next is Apple with 25.4 percent, followed by Microsoft's Windows Mobile with 15.1 percent. Where's Android, you ask? Back in fourth place, with a mere 9 percent market share. That's not the end of the story, however; of the top U.S. mobile platforms in the comScore survey, Android managed the biggest percentage increase of all: 5.2 percent, versus a 0.1-percent drop for Apple. Still quite a mountain to climb, no doubt, but at least Android has some momentum going for it.
Strong handset sales
Sure, the sales figures for any one Android phone pale compared with the staggering 8.75 million iPhones Apple managed to sell in the second quarter of 2010 (although according to Eweek.com, the Motorola Droid didn't do too badly). Put all those Android phones together, though, and you've got some impressive numbers, with Google's Eric Schmidt boasting in February that about 60,000 Android phones were being sold per day. That total is well shy of the more than 97,000-ish iPhones sold each day in Apple's last fiscal quarter (that's the number you get when you divide 8.75 million units by 90 days), but I'm sure it's got Apple's attention.
Android app store gaining traction
No question, Apple is king of the hill when it comes to mobile applications, with a whopping 200,000 apps crammed into its ever-popular app store. But an unofficial tally of the apps in the Android Marketplace by AndroLib hit 50,000 last week (although, as Android Central points out, Google will only officially cop to 38,000 apps for now), about double AndroLib's count back in January. Meanwhile, a recent survey found that 81 percent of mobile developers are very interested in building Android apps, a close second to developer interest in the iPhone. Not bad, but it's worth noting that the Apple App Store is growing by leaps and bounds too, having doubled its inventory within the space of barely five months.
Flash support is on tap
Love it or hate it, support for Flash videos and websites is a prime concern for consumers when it comes to picking a cell phone (indeed, I wish I had a nickel for every time someone asks me if I like the iPad even though it doesn't have Flash), and Google just announced that the next version of Android â 2.2, code-named Froyo â will support Adobe's upcoming Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones. Of course, there are those who argue (with Steve Jobs leading the charge) that Flash is a buggy, insecure battery hog that's better suited for a desktop than a cell phone, but I can already see the Android vs. iPhone comparison charts, with Android getting a big, proud X in the Flash box.
Hot new phones on the horizon
Yep, we all know about the next iPhone (or the iPhone prototype, at least) thanks to Gizmodo, complete with (supposedly) a thinner, glossy shell, a higher-resolution display, and a front-facing camera for video chat. Pretty nice, but tech bloggers swooned earlier this year over the HTC Evo 4G, a slim new Android handset with a gorgeous 4.3-inch WVGA display, a 1.3MP lens in front and an 8MP snapper in back, 720p video recording, and support for Sprint's 4G WiMax network ... hot stuff. Also nice: The slim and light HTC Incredible on Verizon, which lacks the Evo's front-facing camera but still packs in an 8MP camera and an eye-popping WVGA display. Also worth considering: a consumer survey released January â well before the Evo 4G and Incredible were even announced â that found skyrocketing interest in Android phones, while excitement over the iPhone had dropped a few percentage points (or so the survey claimed).
The dark cloud: Google's Nexus One falls flat
It was a bold experiment: Google would bypass the big U.S. carriers, selling its own Android phone (designed by HTC, under Google's strict supervision) on its own Web storefront, thus (so the reasoning went) shaking up the national wireless market in the process. With its slim profile, speedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and version 2.1 of Android under the hood, the Nexus One went on sale in early January ... and promptly flopped.
What happened? Purely as a phone, the Nexus One garnered positive reviews, but as Wired points out, Google's slick Nexus One page proved to be a poor substitute for chipper sales reps giving customers the full-court press in an actual store, while those who did sign up for the Nexus One online were annoyed when their calls to Google's customer support line (which, after all, the search giant hadn't needed until it started selling cell phones) went unanswered. The result: While Nexus One handsets for T-Mobile and Vodafone remain on sale, Google scuttled plans to offer a version for Verizon Wireless, directing would-be customers to the Verizon-ready HTC Incredible instead.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1870
Android's market share on the rise
When it comes to smartphone market share in the U.S., the 800-pound gorilla is still RIM and the BlackBerry, with a commanding 42.1-percent slice of the pie (according to the latest figures from comScore). Up next is Apple with 25.4 percent, followed by Microsoft's Windows Mobile with 15.1 percent. Where's Android, you ask? Back in fourth place, with a mere 9 percent market share. That's not the end of the story, however; of the top U.S. mobile platforms in the comScore survey, Android managed the biggest percentage increase of all: 5.2 percent, versus a 0.1-percent drop for Apple. Still quite a mountain to climb, no doubt, but at least Android has some momentum going for it.
Strong handset sales
Sure, the sales figures for any one Android phone pale compared with the staggering 8.75 million iPhones Apple managed to sell in the second quarter of 2010 (although according to Eweek.com, the Motorola Droid didn't do too badly). Put all those Android phones together, though, and you've got some impressive numbers, with Google's Eric Schmidt boasting in February that about 60,000 Android phones were being sold per day. That total is well shy of the more than 97,000-ish iPhones sold each day in Apple's last fiscal quarter (that's the number you get when you divide 8.75 million units by 90 days), but I'm sure it's got Apple's attention.
Android app store gaining traction
No question, Apple is king of the hill when it comes to mobile applications, with a whopping 200,000 apps crammed into its ever-popular app store. But an unofficial tally of the apps in the Android Marketplace by AndroLib hit 50,000 last week (although, as Android Central points out, Google will only officially cop to 38,000 apps for now), about double AndroLib's count back in January. Meanwhile, a recent survey found that 81 percent of mobile developers are very interested in building Android apps, a close second to developer interest in the iPhone. Not bad, but it's worth noting that the Apple App Store is growing by leaps and bounds too, having doubled its inventory within the space of barely five months.
Flash support is on tap
Love it or hate it, support for Flash videos and websites is a prime concern for consumers when it comes to picking a cell phone (indeed, I wish I had a nickel for every time someone asks me if I like the iPad even though it doesn't have Flash), and Google just announced that the next version of Android â 2.2, code-named Froyo â will support Adobe's upcoming Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones. Of course, there are those who argue (with Steve Jobs leading the charge) that Flash is a buggy, insecure battery hog that's better suited for a desktop than a cell phone, but I can already see the Android vs. iPhone comparison charts, with Android getting a big, proud X in the Flash box.
Hot new phones on the horizon
Yep, we all know about the next iPhone (or the iPhone prototype, at least) thanks to Gizmodo, complete with (supposedly) a thinner, glossy shell, a higher-resolution display, and a front-facing camera for video chat. Pretty nice, but tech bloggers swooned earlier this year over the HTC Evo 4G, a slim new Android handset with a gorgeous 4.3-inch WVGA display, a 1.3MP lens in front and an 8MP snapper in back, 720p video recording, and support for Sprint's 4G WiMax network ... hot stuff. Also nice: The slim and light HTC Incredible on Verizon, which lacks the Evo's front-facing camera but still packs in an 8MP camera and an eye-popping WVGA display. Also worth considering: a consumer survey released January â well before the Evo 4G and Incredible were even announced â that found skyrocketing interest in Android phones, while excitement over the iPhone had dropped a few percentage points (or so the survey claimed).
The dark cloud: Google's Nexus One falls flat
It was a bold experiment: Google would bypass the big U.S. carriers, selling its own Android phone (designed by HTC, under Google's strict supervision) on its own Web storefront, thus (so the reasoning went) shaking up the national wireless market in the process. With its slim profile, speedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and version 2.1 of Android under the hood, the Nexus One went on sale in early January ... and promptly flopped.
What happened? Purely as a phone, the Nexus One garnered positive reviews, but as Wired points out, Google's slick Nexus One page proved to be a poor substitute for chipper sales reps giving customers the full-court press in an actual store, while those who did sign up for the Nexus One online were annoyed when their calls to Google's customer support line (which, after all, the search giant hadn't needed until it started selling cell phones) went unanswered. The result: While Nexus One handsets for T-Mobile and Vodafone remain on sale, Google scuttled plans to offer a version for Verizon Wireless, directing would-be customers to the Verizon-ready HTC Incredible instead.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1870
