By In case you forgot, Android has a ridiculous amount of momentum. The latest ComScore report, which focuses on mobile trends from November 2009 through February 2010, has been published and shows Android’s steep and swift climb towards the top. This report is PARTICULARLY interesting to me because it compares life BEFORE Verizon’s Motorola Droid (November 2009) to life after (or with) the Droid (February 2010).
As you can see, since the Droid launched, Android’s US Market Share has gone from 3.8% to 9%, practically tripling!
While I find it hard to believe that Palm was so far ahead of Android in the first place, Comscore data shows that Android went from owning HALF the market share of Palm to nearly doubling it. While Microsoft and Palm dropped down significantly, I wouldn’t expect Apple’s tiny .1 tick to continue – especially after they announce a new version of their OS, a new version of their iPhone hardware, and possibly new carrier partners.
I am still impressed with how high RIM and their BlackBerry brand soars, but I fear (for them) they won’t enjoy that margin for much longer. Somehow they enjoyed smartphone growth yet again, but with an OS and hardware that hasn’t pushed much innovation, how far will customer familiarity go?
As for Android, we know exactly where it will go… UP!
Palm’s number could include older pre-WebOS Palm phones (the ones had Palm’s OS not Windows installed). I couldn’t imagine WebOS accounting for that large of a percentage by itself either.
And Blackberry thrives due to corporate acceptance. My dad’s company doesn’t trust the security of Android enough to allow my dad to connect his DROID to their Exchange server. :(
android is the only platform seeing public growth! rim gain a small amount of growth due to corporate use but that will change eventually.
all signs point to awesome! i knew this platform would be big ever since i heard rumors of it. this is simply reaffirming my suspicions.
Apple lost me )))
hello to ANDROID !!!!!!
(moving from iPhone 3G to Nexus One)
“practically tripling”
Shut up.
this is all good but i’m sorry, no matter how you twist it 9.0 is not nearly double 5.4 in the same way you could not say 80 is nearly double 50.
wow you dorks 3.8% to 9% is practically tripling… get yer math straight and learn to read. Want me to show you the numbers?
3.8+3.8 = 7.6 well thats double!
7.6+3.8 = 11.4 only 2.4 off of bieng triple.
Yes it would have been more right to say a bit over doubled. But slamming him for saying practically trippled which isnt quite trippling is ridicoulous. Grow brains.
Now imagine when the EVO, Incredible, Desire and Galaxy S drop in the U.S. The market share should continue to increase pretty rapidly.
Some see the glass half empty, but I prefer to see it practically two-thirds full. :)
Agreed with Phil, the next generation of 4″+, 1GHz, v2.0+ Android phones should get this ball rolling a lot faster.
Where’s Symbian OS? Doesn’t it have the largest share? Also, where’s Bada, Maemo and Meego? … OK only kidding about those, they’re pointless fragmenting of the market, but Symbian is a major OS for now.
Well aren’t these comments full of mathematicians and brains…its all semantics and perspective anyhow. In reality market share does not provide the best indication of much in terms of growth…anyone with a smaller market share should see more growth or have an especially easier time to increase their percentages exponentially.
That being said, the triple or double comments, is really a perspective thing in my opinion. Depends on if you prefer to see the glass as half empty or half full. Though from a journalism perspective, I probably would not have been nearly as liberal with my reasoning and deductions, but rather stuck to the news that it appears Google is gaining market share, and primarily those losing it to Google seem to be Microsoft and Palm. Apple fans remain dedicated and corporate America remains dedicated to RIM.
Badu and Meego are coming, just you bitches wait and see!
@delphi
no it is NOT practically tripled. it is far off. 2.4 doesnt seem much to you now, until you convert those percentages into numbers. thats when that 2.4 percent turns into hundreds of thousands.
Practically tripling.
.
Let’s be honest with numbers. There’s nothing wrong with “more than doubling”. Android is doing well enough. No need to hype it. Just be patient. It takes more than a couple years to achieve complete utter world domination.
Blackberry has a stronghold within many large corporations, and they are continually giving more and more employees smart phones. Businesses have built their infrastructure and processes around blackberry technology since it was the olny game in town for a long time. Android is getting better with 2.1, but still has a ways to go in terms of matching the security of a blackberry, which is one of the main reasons corporations may not switch from BB to Android so quickly.
@ Phil
Not exactly. They said the same exact thing about the Nexus One. Just because something has a lot good features won’t mean it will sell well. I highly doubt any of those will be as marketlly successful as the DROID. But I could be wrong. Still, if Verizon releases the Mirage/DROID 2 it could be an even bigger hit since the Droid had a lot of units sold and the masses know all about it. If you took the HTC EVO out on the streets months after it was released, most wouldn’t know about it. Just sayin’
Android is growing.
Will be interesting to see what happens to the iPhone share when they release new phones.
A lot of former WinMo users have jumped to Android. I’m one of them. I think that’s where a sizeable chunk of that -4% in WinMo is coming from.
Both my wife and I came from Windows Mobile phones.
Oh, and Symbian is not a “smartphone platform”. That is why Symbian is not on this list.
Expect blackberry to fall hard and fast.
I work for a fortune 20 company which is now rolling out “Good for Enterprise” (www.good.com)
This is making email available on both iPhones and Android… Some of my coworkers just started using the iphone version and it’s getting good feedback. I can’t wait till my IT dept rolls it out for android next month.
when the crackberry addicts I work with find that they can save $30 a month by dropping the BES charge they switch in a heart beat.
I got my N1 and it is a great phone. Google should be doing more marketing. N1 deserves it!!.
If Android has to take place of RIM it has to get more business oriented with good Exchange support missing (My MNC exchange mail are not syncing, I may have to go to TouchDown $20), it cannot gain business users confidence.
Where are the office apps??
I agree Android is emerging v fast, but it need to focus now on business users.
“Oh, and Symbian is not a “smartphone platform”. That is why Symbian is not on this list.”
Errrrr. Are you mad? Why wouldn’t symbian be a smartphone OS?
I have my company mail synched to my Droid. The salesman who knew nothing about the Droid apparently, claimed it wouldn’t support email like a Blackberry. It seems to run fine to me!! It is a little slower than the gmail however.
@Rahul
“If Android has to take place of RIM it has to get more business oriented with good Exchange support missing … it cannot gain business users confidence.”
The point about “Good for Enterprise” is that it addresses those exact concerns. No it’s not a google product built into android but it is a third party application which supports syncing with both Exchange and Domino servers. It also has remote wipe and encryption.
Also this is a product being rolled out now in large scale enterprises (>50k users)… not “coming soon” or “planning to” it’s here already. If you look on the android market you will see an app for “Good”.
BB might still be better having more user features but at this point the major roadblocks are removed… its up to funding and adoption now.
Look at year-on-year: Apple went from 33% to 50%, +50%, +17% total. Android 2% to 24%, 1100%, 22% total. Android gains more of the market AND more compared to their own previous.
I left WinMo because MS took the world for granted and came up with a second rate win7 mobile platform way too late.
Android has all the momentum from all corners going for it – google apps, 3d api, app market…. AND good and improving hardware.
Android appears efficient and fast with a massive future ahead…
iphone may have set the trend for a smooth GUI on a phone – but its truly becoming a dinasaur. Plus Apple’s control freak attitude sucks big time. If iphone doesn’t open up its interface to multiple themes and methods as well as multitasking – then I don’t think it will hold its wow factor lead…
Palm – well that’s a pity – wish they had done better – but they haven’r generated enough traction and cannot match android’s momentum..
Blackberry – well they deserve to crash as they failed to innovate. their like a glorified DOS machine in a Windows era…
@Brian: Every market share analysis I’ve seen includes Symbian as a smartphone platform. Worldwide, it holds over 40% marketshare, and both Gartner and IDC predict it will continue to lead through 2012. While not a major force in the USA, Nokia is investing heavily in the platform, switching to a QT 4 development environment (shared with Meego) and pushing a range of Ovi services.
Android has the momentum, but Nokia has broad mindshare and deep pockets. Underestimate them at your peril.