Is Android unstoppable?

Android’s market share grew by an amazing 886% in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2009. And as exciting as that sounds, it was pretty much to be expected. Back in Q2 2009 Android had 2.8% of the smartphone market. You can only go up from such a measly number, basically.

This time last year, Android was on just over a million of the handsets sold. And almost all of those sales were made up by the HTC Dream/G1. Android 1.5 was released during that second quarter of 2009, but by the end of June only two devices were running the new OS version, the Samsung i7500 Galaxy and the HTC Magic. Arguably, neither Android 1.0 nor Android 1.5 were anything close to final, stable versions of the OS despite their numbering. It was only with 1.6 that came out in September last year, when the OS started to look good enough for mass adoption, and that’s when many new devices started to show up, and Android’s growth rate started surging.

Today, Android is only 0.9% away from RIM’s BlackBerry OS, and if the current trends continue, will overtake it in Q3. Which is not a small achievement by any standard. RIM’s OS was holding that second position since Windows Mobile started to go down a long, long time ago (in mobile device years, anyway).

We’ve clearly not seen the peak of the Android platform yet. How much it can still grow from this point on is anybody’s guess, but it has absolutely grown up this year. My guess is that it won’t peak in 2010.

Prove it.

Getting desperate are we? Chortle!
Broadcom, Qualcomm, Synaptics and TI have had parts in most cell phones for years. They don't discriminate on what operating system the phone is running. Why don't you prove that there are no TI chips for example in Windows Mobile or mobile Linux smartphones?

In addition, LG, Motorola, HTC and Samsung have been making Windows Mobile smartphones since before Window Mobile, back in the days of Pocket PC.
Vodafone? They have been selling Win Mo smartphones in the UK for years.
And that is just Win Mo. Different versions Mobile Linux has had deals with smartphone chip/chipset makers, mobile carriers etc all over the planet, especially China, long before Android came out.

“It is quite likely that CPUs made by Samsung ended up running WinMo, and phones of Samsung manufacture were sold with it”

I am not bothered about Samsung chips. I am talking about Samsung Win Mo smartphones, which have been on sale for yaers, and are still on sale even as we speak. If all it took for an OS to crush Apple was for Samsung/TI etc to get behind it, how come all these mobile OS’s faltered and Android came from nowhere and clobbered the iPhone but good, in record time?

“Remember how Symbian blew up and took the majority of worldwide smartphone sales?”

Symbian is still the # 1 selling smartphone on the planet, and by far most of Symbian smartphone sales come from Nokia, not from Samsung or any of the other top backers of Symbian.

If all it took for an OS to crush Apple was for Samsung/TI etc to get behind it, how come all these mobile OS’s faltered and Android came from nowhere and clobbered the iPhone but good

Because all of those players weren't behind WinMo. Some players definitely shipped WinMo phones, but they weren't part of a consortium pushing the platform. They grudgingly paid Microsoft the license fees in order to have something on a phone to compete with Symbian, Palm and RIM. And it sucked. Now you see WinMo sliding into the abyss as these companies go full speed ahead with their Android. As of 2.x it's a fairly decent mobile OS, better than WinMo, and pushed hard by all but three of the big smartphone makers.

Did you read that earlier? TWO DOZEN Android phones out just this year and available. Sixty Android phones released in two years. That is MASSIVE support, massive pushing of the platform by the industry. It could only fail if it sucked bad enough to be rejected by consumers.

Now answer my question for the vast majority of companies, the cell phone industry powerhouses, behind Android. You don't think they had anything to do with Android's rapid growth?

Again, Win Mo, and various versions of mobile Linux had all those firms like TI supporting them, and still went nowhere. Andriod came, saw and conquered Apple in just 2 years.

“Just look at the numbers. Your oh-my-god-it’s-selling-like-crazy most hyped, most beloved Android phone that broke all sales records managed a whopping small fraction of the iPhone 4’s initial sales&rdquodquo

Totally irrelevant.
Andriods are currently clobbering the iPhone in quarterly smartphone sales. 'all that Google cares about, to get their OS onto as many smartphones as possible to they can then leverage it to make money off mobile search.
Of course since there are vastly more companies making Android phones than there are making the iphone(only one company, Apple makes the iPhones), naturally the single vendor of iPhones will outsell a random single vendor of Andriod.
It's like comparing Apple mac sales to Windows PC sales from some small PC maker and claiming the Mac is dominant. As far as Microsoft is concerned, total Windows PC sales vastly outpace those of the Mac. That's all that matters. And...Google's Android is going to continue to totally clobber the iPhones unabated.

Because all of those players weren't behind WinMo

Irrelevant.
Right now, most Android smartphone sales come from the top 4 or so makers, HTC, Motorola, Samsung and LG, and every single one of them has been making Win Mo smartphones for YEARS.
When it comes to the chipset makers like TI, , Qualcom etc, they support any smartphone operating system that wants them to. They are OS agnostic.
Win Mo got all the support they needed, has been on the market for close to 10 years, and still went nowhere.
Google came to the market just 2 short years ago, and hit Apple’s market share like tsunami and then proceeded to overtake Apple's market share(and even RIM's) in record time. And there is more where that came from.
Apple's market share has nowhere to g but DOWN, even as Androids grow from strength to strength.

Of course since there are vastly more companies making Android phones than there are making the iphone(only one company, Apple makes the iPhones), naturally the single vendor of iPhones will outsell a random single vendor of Andriod.

Tada! You finally get it! It's apparently quite relevant since you just restated it in your argument. It takes the combined sales from all of those well-established, powerful phone manufacturers on all of those carriers throughout the world with phone lines from low-end to high-end (including lots of buy one get one free specials) to just beat the sales from one manufacturer with one line of premium phones on a limited number of carriers. That's a measure of the iPhone's amazing success, not Android's.

Thus my point. That Android overtook iPhone was inevitable as long as it didn't suck so bad as to turn off consumers like WinMo did.

It's like comparing Apple mac sales to Windows PC sales from some small PC maker and claiming the Mac is dominant.

We're not talking about "some small" phone maker. These are the powerhouses Motorola, Samsung, LG and HTC. These owned the market after RIM and Nokia. Apple went from zero to beating all of those companies in less than a year.

And whoever said Apple was dominant in either? Sounds like another instance of a strawman.

It takes the combined sales from all of those well-established, powerful phone manufacturers on all of those carriers throughout the world with phone lines from low-end to high-end (including lots of buy one get one free specials) to just beat the sales from one manufacturer with one line of premium phones on a limited number of carriers.

More like it takes an OS from a firm that has never even written an OS before, never been in the mobile phone business before, never even been in the consumer electronics business before(Apple has been making macs for over 30 years)only got into the mobile OS business just 2 years ago, and then managed to swiftly overtake not just the previously “on track to dominate smart phone business” iPhones, they managed to overtake the long dominant in the US Rim as well.
It's virtually unprecedented.
Meanwhile, firms like HTC have been making Win Mo smartphones for well nigh 10 years, and still got nowhere in market share..until Android came along that is.

Jobs worshiping fanatics

Watch your language. Push it and you will get reported.

who insist that black is white, when all the facts and figures say it's black.

FACT: Apple is one manufacturer with one line of high-end phones on a limited number of carriers.

FACT: Android ships on multiple phones from all but two of the other MAJOR phone manufacturers.

FACT: Apple blew past all of those other manufacturers in less than a year of sales (actually, about six months).

FACT: United together under a common platform, those other companies are now regaining their combined share of the market.

You would so love to be able to portray Apple as a loser, but it's not happening. Apple and Android are winners. Palm is all but dead, WinMo is barely hanging on, and RIM and Nokia are scrambling to hold on to their crumbling dominant marketshares.

That's a measure of the iPhone’s amazing success, not Android's.

Orwellian Applebot logic at its best:

Apple has been making consumer products for over a massive 30 years. Google has never made even as much as a keyboard before in their entire lives. In just 2 months, Google introduces a smartphone OS, then lroceeds to totally clobber Apple's iPhone in market share, and is even now accelerating even more in smartphone sales {200,000 Android devices sold every day }, and somehow, its Apple that is “amazing” not Google?
ROFL!
Apple has been making macs and other consumer products for as long as I can remember. Remember the Apple Newton? That was over 20 years ago.

Watch your language. Push it and you will get reported.

I am sure you would. When you are getting badly beaten, you are usually reduced to go crying to mama. Nothing new about that. You do that, and I report you right back.

FACT: Apple has been making consumer products for as long as anyone can remember, including the similar form factor Apple Newton, long before Google was even founded.

FACT: Google had never even written an OS before, let alone a smartphone OS.

FACT: Google has never made or sold any consumer product in their entire lives.

FACT : Within just 2 year after introdsicng Android, Google has managed to overtake not just the iPhone, its also overtaken the RIM in the US market, and is on track to overtake RIM in this quarter when the quarterly figures for Q3 come out.

FACT: There have been plenty of mobile Linux versions out there, with the self same big firms like Samsung, Motorola, TI, Qualcom etc behind them, and they went nowhere. Android came out just 2 years ago, and swiftly took over in record time. It's unprecedented.

FACT: Before Android, Apple had never been able to outsell RIM in even a single quarter before. The iPhone has not even been close. And the Iphone was out quite a bit before Android came out.

Apple has been making consumer products for over a massive 30 years.

But not a cell phone. Unlike other consumer electronics devices, at the time you couldn't just design and manufacture a cell phone and sell it. The carriers were all-powerful, they dictated the terms, the features, the design. ALL of these other manufacturers have Apple to thank for breaking that mold.

Google has never made even as much as a keyboard before in their entire lives.

And Google still doesn't make a phone. The one Google-branded HTC phone has been a flop. Established manufacturers such as Motorola, HTC, LG and Samsung do make phones, and are selling their phones with Android on them very well.

BTW, Google designed their own servers, and sells search appliance hardware.

In just 2 months, Google introduces a smartphone OS, then lroceeds to totally clobber Apple's iPhone in market share

Agree if by 2 months you mean 2 years, and by "totally clobber" you mean just edging ahead. Clobbering is Apple going it alone and far surpassing their COMBINED smartphone sales in six months.

Remember the Apple Newton? That was over 20 years ago.

Who is the one who has a problem with facts? You, as usual.

But not a cell phone.

Consumer electronics is consumer electrnics. The Apple Newton form factor has plenty of similarities with the iPhone, and Apple was in that business over 20 years ago, and stayed in that business for over 10 years. During all that time, Google did not even exist.
They come out with an OS, with no prior consumer product or OS ever, and swiftly overtake not only the iPhone, they overtake RIM in the US market too.
That is pure shock and awe!

“Unlike other consumer electronics devices, at the time you couldn't just design and manufacture a cell phone and sell it. The carriers were all-powerful, they dictated the terms, the features, the design. ALL of these other manufacturers have Apple to thank for breaking that mold.”

Ummm..Microsoft had long specfied what the specs of Win Mo should be, even from back in the days of Pocket PC. Nothing new here

“BTW, Google designed their own servers, and sells search appliance hardware.”

Google buy their server hardware from other hardware makers like Dell, HP etc. Plus servrs are not consumer products. The Newton and the Apple mac are though.

“Agree if by 2 months you mean 2 years, and by “totally clobber” you mean just edging ahead.”

2 years, and its not “just edging ahead”. According to Canalys, Android is ahead by 3.6% worldwide, and..Android is growing at a stunning 886%, while the iPhone is ony growing at a measely 61.4% (les than one tenth the growth rare of Androids). It's not even close.

Me : Remember the Apple Newton? That was over 20 years ago.

You: Who is the one who has a problem with facts? You, as usual.

Wikipedea:
"The Newton platform was an early personal digital assistant (PDA) hardware/software and the first tablet platform developed by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.), the second platform being iOS (previously named iPhone OS), used in the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Development of the Newton platform started in 1987 and officially ended on February 27, 1998”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton

Who has a problem with facts here?

When you are getting badly beaten, you are usually reduced to go crying to mama.

It has been ordered that personal attacks will not be tolerated on these tech threads anymore.

Apple has been making consumer products for as long as anyone can remember

Many can remember before that, and the fact that they are new to the phone market.

Google had never even written an OS before

Google didn't make Android from scratch. You see, way back in 2003, a bunch of people from the likes of Orange (big cell provider) and Danger (phone systems software) joined together to found a company called Android, Inc., for the purpose of making smartphone systems software and services. Google bought Android Inc. in 2005 and retained much of the staff (Android Inc. head Rubin became the head of Android under Google). So whether or not Google had any smartphone OS experience is irrelevant. The company Google bought had a LOT of experience in just that.

Of course this doesn't count that Google is famous for having made MASSIVE contributions to Linux.

Google has never made or sold any consumer product in their entire lives.

Google has many consumer software services, several of which are leveraged by Android.

Within just 2 year after introdsicng Android, Google has managed to overtake not just the iPhone, its also overtaken the RIM in the US market

You mean together Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung and others have managed.

There have been plenty of mobile Linux versions out there, with the self same big firms like Samsung, Motorola, TI, Qualcom etc behind them, and they went nowhere.

For good reason: they weren't very good. They were also fragmented, as the Linux marketshare was made up of several different efforts. Now they are united under one Linux effort, and it's working. It also helps that with Android you don't actually program for Linux, but Java.

Before Android, Apple had never been able to outsell RIM in even a single quarter before.

That was expected. One new phone maker on one carrier in the US selling only premium smartphones is not going to topple the established #1 maker across all carriers and price ranges in the US smartphone market that quickly.

And the Iphone was out quite a bit before Android came out.

16 months. That is "quite a bit" of time for the iPhone to you, yet you say things like "just 2 year" as a short time when talking about Android.

I think the phone competition is similar to the desk-top competition. Apple always seems to be out ahead in design and then MS platforms work to catch up.

I have used apple computers since 1985, MAC Plus. However, we are using droid phones. My wife got too many business calls dropped with AT&T, so goodbye i-phone. Apple has tied it's wagon to a diminishing star. They have an inherent competitive disadvantage. Meanwhile droid is booming and it will continue.

I would add that I was less than impressed with the coverage bars announcement and the antenna problem. I look for i-phone to be secondary in the phone market, losing significant share over the next year. I-pad has a chance to outrun others, but if they keeping making these kind of decisions, google will pass them up on the tablets.

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