iPhone market share outpaces Android
By Will Park on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 AM PST In Android, Announcements, Research, T-Mobile
Android smartphones are great in their own right. The capacitance-based touchscreens used in Android devices make for some down-right enjoyable finger-flicks. The speedy Android OS is fairly intuitive (not as intuitive as a certain fruit company’s wares, but still well intuitive) and packs a decent set of features. Unfortunately, the iPhone has taken hold of the burgeoning smartphone market in a way that up-and-coming smartphone platforms may have trouble repeating.
A new “Market Share” report from Net Applications points to the Android platforms flagging market share numbers following the platform’s launch late last year. The Android platform saw its market share growing at the same rate as the iPhone in its post-launch months. The first five months of sales of the Android-powered G1 spurred market share growth on par with the iPhone, but data for the sixth month shows a slowdown in marketshare growth. It’s still to early to make heads or tails of the data in a long-term perspective, but it sure does look like Android is falling behind the iPhone’s post-launch growth numbers.
Month 6 is a bit worrying for the Android platform
The likes of Palm (NSDQ: PALM) should be worried. Net Applications’ numbers suggest that new smartphone platforms may have trouble reaching past the early adopter market and breaking into the more lucrative mass-market. The Android OS’s early, post-launch growth may have been fueled by early adopters scrambling to play with the new smartphone platform. But, once the early adopters had their toys, the Android platform’s penetration into the consumer market seems to have waned.
On the other hand, Android may be doing just fine. Net Applications polls member websites to gather market data, which may not accurately reflect true market performance. With T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) getting ready to presumably launch the HTC Magic as the T-Mobile myTouch3G, we’re sure Magenta’s higher-ups are hoping that Android growth stays on par with the iPhone’s intial growth-pace.
[Via: MarketShare]
Some of this is fair comment, but I think you are missing the bigger picture here.
Thus far, there has been one Android phone brought to market. It’s fair to say, given this fact, the Android platform has been quite successful. With the launch of many Android phones hitting the market before the end of 2009, iPhones market share will be whittled away, that is certain. I predict in two years’ time we will see a similar situation with the PC and Mac market (I am surprised this similarity has been overlooked by the media) in as much as any manufacturer can produce a PC, where as Apple guard their hardware behind many lawsuits. You will be seeing Android in all kinds of devices, all this will eat away at Apple’s market.
Mark my words.