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Android pulls ahead of Windows Mobile as hottest trending mobile OS

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:39 PM

Social media is a great way to get a bead on the hottest trends in almost any industry you can think of, and the Android OS has just been crowned the hottest mobile OS in the smartphone space. A new study from Norwegian consulting firm Integrasco shows that Android has pulled ahead of Windows Mobile as the most buzzworthy trend in social media circles like Twitter, YouTube and tech blogs. In fact, social media mentions of Android has been steadily skyrocketing since the beginning of last year, and has been eclipsing the buzz from Apple’s media-darling iPhone almost since the get-go.

Windows Mobile hype has been on a steady decline, according to Integrasco’s metrics, but still accounts for a healthy 33% of social media mindshare in the last quarter of 2009. Android, on the other hand, took home 40% of social media mentions in Q4 2009. Compare that to the iPhone’s measly 7% share, BlackBerry’s 2% slice and the 1% of mentions going to webOS, and it’s clear that Android is getting a lot more attention from online gossipers.

So, what’s going on here? Is Google’s operating system really attracting that much more attention than the iPhone? For that matter, is Windows Mobile really out-buzzing the iPhone? The iPhone is a hype machine befitting Apple’s half-eaten logo – how is it not one of the hottest trending topics in social media? Well, this is pure speculation, but consider this – Android users skew heavily male. And, the Android platform is generally seen as the “geek” platform of choice. Could it be that it’s these more tech-savvy users that are driving the online buzz around the little green robot?

What do you think? Is Android the hot new platform to watch for? Will Microsoft make a comeback with Windows Phone 7 Series (catch our hands-on demo here).

[Integrasco via AndroidAndMe]

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About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Dan Elam

    Some of that was timing. Android certainly was getting the most buzz as the new thing on the block. But the study stops in Dec 2009- well before the iPad announcement. The development trends have all swung back to Apple. Microsoft probably gets a minor bump from the new announcement, but the research seems to strongly suggest that the iPad will drive a lot of the buzz for at least a quarter. If iPad succeeds during that time look for Apple to dominate the rest of the year. If sales are slow, look for Android and the PC manufacturers to regain the lead. Prediction: we will know by July 1st.