June 6, 2011
According to the data released by ComScore this Friday. The data, which was for the month of April, 2011, puts Google’s Android platform at 36.4%, Apple at 26%, RIM (BlackBerry) at 25.7% and Microsoft at 6.7%.
By the way, that’s a 4.7% decline for BlackBerry since January (which continues a long slide).
Android’s growth continues to amaze me, especially compared to Apple. It was not much more than a year ago that Android’s market share was below 10%, far behind Apple; now their share beats Apple significantly. I used to think their growth was largely because iPhone was on ATT only and so dedicated other-network users were being forced to Android. But Android continue to grow market share even after Verizon released the iPhone.
I am purely neutral on which of the two phones is better (I have both phones and like things about each). But most reviewers of smartphones continue to say the iPhone is a better phone than nearly all others, yet Android continues to grow.
So what is your opinion as to why Android continues to take off compared to Apple’s iPhone? I’d love to start that discussion. Leave a comment below.
Michael
I’ll be honest, I saw the data too that android is growing far faster than Apple. However, when i’m out on the street I don’t seem to notice droid phones. (I own a Palm Pre btw, so I’m completely neutral 🙂 ).
My wife DOES own a droid (she wanted a great keyboard) — and my friend got this killer HTC Inspire (4.3 inch screen) for free with 2 year contract. (it’s online for $99).
So, there’s a ridiculously wide variety of android phones to appeal any customer (cheap/expensive, keyboard/touchscreen, big/small, etc.) So, perhaps Apple may be making the same mistake Ford made……”you can have any color (Model T) you want, as long as it’s black” (actually they just released a white iPHone….so maybe not? 😉
I can well believe that a iPhone is slicker than the average Android phone – but it is very much more expensive. It seems to me that most people don’t just factor in that it you probably pay for the iPhone up front and the monthly contract fee racks up massively over a 12 month or 24 month agreement.
I think it is an easy answer – price. Lots of cheaper Android phones vs. iPhone.
And when it comes especially to the mass consumer market and e.g. kids, students and job starters, the price is still very important and they are tech savvy enough to use an Android.
iPhone costs more and its a one size fits all. iPhone is dropping just like the Apple Desktops in the 80’s with Microsoft. Apple believes in a “Its my way or the highway”.
I told people last year (Summer 2010) that iPhone’s peak is now and they will drop to about 10% while Android will go to 90%.
Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.