Android phone sales up 1,309%
Steve Jobs in rear view mirror
It's been a good year for Android-based smartphones: their worldwide sales are up 1,309 per cent, year-on-year, according to research outfit Canalys.
"With Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world," Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said in a report released on Monday.
Of course, such insane year-on-year growth means that last year's figures had to be somewhat meager — and they were. In the third quarter of 2009, Canalys reports, worldwide Android-phone sales were 1.4 million. In the same quarter this year, they had grown to over 20 million.
The Canalys report also notes that Nokia still holds the worldwide lead in smartphone market share at 33 per cent. Android phones come in at about a quarter of worldwide sales, followed by Apple's iPhone at 17 per cent and RIM's stable of BlackBerries at 15 per cent.
In the US, however, Nokia is relegated to membership in the fifth-place class of "Others", where it shares 3 per cent of the market with, well, others. US smartphone sales, according to Canalys, were dominated by Android devices, which accounted for 43.6 per cent of the market in the third quarter of this year.
Behind the Android phones come the iPhone at 26.2 per cent, and RIM at 24.2 per cent. Microsoft? A mere 3 per cent, tying it with "Others."
But Canalys isn't counting Microsoft out just yet, not with Windows Phone 7 looming. "Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it," said Canalys analyst Chris Jones.
But Jones is not without concerns. "The big challenge will be for handset vendors to differentiate their devices sufficiently given the restrictions Microsoft has placed on customizing the user interface, and its relatively demanding minimum hardware requirements, which will confine devices to the higher end of the market." ®
COMMENTS
Competition
"Sorry Bill. Too little and far too late."
I'm not too sure. As much as I dislike Microsoft on the desktop, it's great they are finally here for the smartphone party - more competition will make Apple/Android/everyone take notice and hopefully work harder to make all the platforms better.
There's nothing worse than a single platform wiping the floor with the others... we want CHOICE - and everyone one their toes working to *try* to beat the others.
Linux is a disruptive technology
So it's only doing its job ;-)
Android is blimmin good though
I've had many makes of smartphone for the last decade but I was seriously impressed with my new Android phone. It's so intuitive that I found my 4 year old had picked it up, worked out how to unlock it (she can't read yet) and load and play various games.
It looks like Android will go from strength to strength as it appears on cheaper phones. You no longer need to pay £500 to own an iphone when a Android phone can do pretty much all that from £99 upwards. iVery iSmart iPhones iThat iAren't iActually iPhones(TM)
Infinity %
Last year, that is by how much Android sales went up: Infinity %. From zero to more than zero.
This year, sales of Windows 7 phones will go up by infinity %. with only 1,309%, Android phones are clearly beaten.
@regviewer: learn statistics.
I agree
but I think what this does show is how people are starting to understand their needs slightly more.
<anecdote>
My sister (29) was going on about getting an iPhone for over a year (waiting for contract to end), and then she suddenly called to tell me she had a Galaxy S and was crazy in love with it.
Weird thing: she hadn't even tried one before. I'll never understand how phone shops expect to sell phones without letting people try them out, but they seem to do okay.
When I asked her why, she said that the Galaxy S did everything she needed. She had almost no understanding of what Android was (she thought it was something to do with the market), and that's possible Android's biggest strength.
Despite what people say about OEMs not being able to distinguish their product with Android, I don't think average consumers really care, as long as they're told that the phone does what they want it to do.
