When we talk about the growth of the Android platform, comparisons to the iPhone are unavoidable. Since 2007 Apple has had the hottest smartphone on the market, and has generally dominated other handsets that have tried to kill it. Yet despite the widespread use of the term “iPhone killer,” no single handset to date has done that. That’s partly because the iPhone is a legitimately good and useful device. It’s also because Apple has an excellent marketing team and legions of loyal fans.
In the months following the iPhone’s initial release we heard plenty of rumors about Google competing with a smartphone of its own. This got a lot of airplay in 2007 into 2008, but we knew Google was a bit better than that. Why go after a single handset with another single handset? Why not go after it with an entire platform? That’s really the idea behind Android. Instead of having just one handset compete with the iPhone, Google’s platform can be, and is, used on a number of different handsets that can better fit the needs of the mass public.
The strategy appears to be paying off. In the first six months of 2010, handsets with the Android OS accounted for 27 percent of all smartphone purchases in the U.S. RIM’s BlackBerry beat out everyone else at 33 percent, but the iPhone lagged in third with 23 percent. This, of course, does not include July and so does not include a large number of iPhone 4 sales. With that handset along with a number of highly anticipated Android devices out in the second half, it will be interesting to see the numbers come January.
Even with the iPhone 4, Android has the momentum. There’s an interesting post at IntoMobile that covers smartphone shipments for Q2 2010 compared to the year-ago period. Overall shipments were up 64 percent, so we can use that as a baseline. RIM increased shipments just 41 percent, so they’re well behind the market. Apple is, too, though less so, having shipped 61 percent more units than Q2 2009. Android? It’s no surprise that they’re head of the market, but it is a shock that they’re so drastically ahead, to the tune of an 886 percent increase year-over-year.
Yesterday at DroidDog, Alberto wonders if Android has won the mobile OS war already. Normally I’d think that’s a bit premature — there are, after all, a number of exciting handsets coming from their competitors. Even RIM has a different flavor with its new device, the touchscreen-slider combination of the Torch 9800. But I think Alberto lays out the case well, and given the above numbers, it might not be too unrealistic. Because for every Torch and iPhone 4, there is a Droid X and a Galaxy S Pro. And that’s not even getting to later in the year, when we’ll surely have a number of even better Android devices on hand, including 2 GHz handsets.
I’d say this is the beginning of an exciting time for Android, but I think that time began at least seven months ago, maybe even earlier. We’re starting to see more and better handsets to go along with more and better software. It’s only a matter of time before Google’s strategy pays off. Having a single platform on a number of different handsets is far better than having a single OS on a single handset.
