The iPhone vs. Android battle just got more interesting as the underdog Android phone outsold Apple’s iPhone in first quarter 2010 U.S. smartphone sales. Apple is winning the war, even if the Android did win one small battle. In total smartphone sales, and Apple definitely has the lead over Android. Dominating the field is Blackberry. The Android market is going up when the iPhone and Blackberry markets plummet. Some analysts think those trends will continue, allowing the Android phone to tighten the iPhone vs. Android margin.
iPhone vs. Android milestone
The NPD Group reports the Android vs. iPhone matchup hit a milestone when the Android phone captured 28 percent of smartphone sales in the last quarter. NPD reports that Apple’s iPhone won 21 percent of smartphone sales, when Research in Motion’s Blackberry took 36 percent. According to ComScore, a digital market research firm, a key stat in Android vs. iPhone is that Google’s Android operating system had just nine percent of the market as of February 2010, compared with the iPhone’s 25.4 percent.
Android phone gains, others falter
In winning the latest round of iPhone vs. Droid, PC World reports that Google’s OS is the only smartphone OS whose share of sales grew exceptionally over the previous quarter. iPhone sales in the meantime are failing and Blackberry, Windows, and WebOS sales are falling like a mortgage loan modification. If this trend continues, PC World’s J.R. Raphael said Android will catch up to its competitors for total market share in a hurry.
How was the iPhone beat by the Android?
Android phone sales may have overtaken Apple’s iPhone, according to the Los Angeles Times, because of Google’s freewheeling partnering tactics that have gotten the Android operating system onto as numerous phones as possible. You will find more than 30 Android powered devices from 12 manufacturers. These devices contain Sprint, AT and T, T-mobile, and Verizon.
Is iPhone Verizon on the horizon?
As Google wins the latest round of the iPhone vs. Droid scuffle, the iPhone Verizon offering looms larger. Apple is tied to AT and T in an exclusive partnership in what may be a saturated market. An analyst with Technology Business Research, Ezra Gottheil, told Computerworld, “That’s your classic technology acquisition curve. Of those within the U.S. who are interested in an iPhone and willing to put up with AT and T, quite much all have already bought one. What’s left for Apple — as long as it’s tied to AT and T in its exclusive partnership — is largely the iPhone replacement market”.
Worldwide iPhone soars
Most analysts expect iPhone Verizon to happen eventually within the U.S., but Apple’s not saying when. Meantime, Apple is forging ahead in the iPhone vs. droid matchup everywhere else. Apple announced last month Worldwide iPhone sales were up 131 percent within the first quarter compared to the same three-month stretch in 2009.
Citations
NPD reports
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100510.html
PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/195958/android_outsells_apple_iphone_at_last_says_npd.html
Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/05/google-android-overtakes-iphone-npd-research.html
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