Android maintains U.S. sales share lead despite Apple, Microsoft chipping away

by Jeff Causey on
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New data from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech for the quarter ending April 2013 shows iOS and Windows devices gained sales share at a slightly faster pace than Android. This dynamic is occurring after Android took the U.S. sales lead in 2013, placing it in the position of being the hunted. Android increased their share of the sales pie by 1.4 percent year over year compared to 1.8 percent for Windows smartphones and 2.3 percent for iOS devices. Despite the gains by the competition, Android still controls 51.7% of the U.S. market in terms of sales. » Read the rest

Smartphone sales in Q1 2013 great for Android, amasses whopping 75% of market share

by Harrison Kaminsky on
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Android and iOS have been neck and neck battling for the title of “leading smartphone OS” for years now, but this month’s numbers don’t suggest a tight competition whatsoever. In the first quarter of 2013, Android-powered smartphones accounted for about 75% of all smartphones sold in this time-frame. Apple’s iOS came far behind, selling only 18.2% worth of the market share. Surprisingly the failing RIM (Blackberry) was able to outsell Microsoft’s Windows 8 Phones by 0.1%. It isn’t a big difference, but that’s definitely saying something about Microsoft’s success in the smartphone market.

Perhaps the most interesting of all this is that Android’s flagship for the year, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 hasn’t even been released yet. Android’s dominance over the market is expected to surpass that of 75% in Q2 2013. » Read the rest

Android takes early lead in 2013 for U.S. smartphone sales

by Jeff Causey on
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Apple may wish this was an April Fool’s joke, but new data released today from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Android has taken a lead in the U.S. market for smartphone sales for the quarter ended February 2013. The U.S. market has been a stronghold for Apple, which managed to maintain control of the market despite the growth of Android throughout other parts of the world. However, Kantar’s latest consumer panel, which focuses on sales, shows Android had 51.2% of smartphone sales for the period compared with 45.4% for the same period a year ago. » Read the rest

Smaller tablets becoming all the rage and expected to grow worldwide, so sez the IDC

by Roy Alugbue on
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As we see more and more 8-inch or under tablets produced for all sorts of demographics, the overall demand for those tablets will grow in the coming years. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the 2013 forecast for the worldwide tablet market has increased to 190.9 million units, which is up from its previous 172.4 million units. In fact, research analyst Jitesh Ubrani believes that “one in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. And in terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond” .

Naturally Android manufacturers were quick to realize the unique niche market and are currently leading the way in terms of overall market share compared to competitors. The IDC believes that Android-based tablets will reach a peak market share of 48.8% for 2013, followed by Apple at 46% and Windows RT-based tablets after that. Of course as the years go by, both Android and Apple-based tablets will see their market shares drop slightly to 46% and 43.5% in 2017, respectively; while Windows-based tablets are expected to grow to 7.4% in 2017 which is significant and all– but probably not going to worry too many people very much.

source: IDC

Apple iOS platform favored by enterprise users over Android

by Roy Alugbue on
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We’d recently reported that Apple’s brand seems to be growing at a steady rate and it seems to have a direct impact on the enterprise market out here in the States. According to customer data from enterprise file sharing and hybrid cloud storage company Egnyte, of all the enterprise devices out there using its service in Q3/Q4 of 2011 to date, Apple iPhones and iPads account for nearly 70% of all enterprise-based devices out in the corporate world, compared to a paltry 30% for Android-based smartphones and tablets. More over, preliminary results for 2013 indicates that iPhone and iPad enterprise market share accounts for nearly 80%, while Android smartphones and tablets dipped to 22% total. Here’s a full statement from Egnyte on its thoughts of the fascinating study:

“While initially iPads dominated our use, iPhones have taken over.  2011 use showed the iPad accounting for 40 percent of our usage, in 2012 iPhones are now 42 percent of usage, and Android has remained constant at about 30 percent of use. There are two interesting points here, first, Apple seems to have at least temporarily won the hearts and minds of business users with its products accounting for about 70 percent of our traffic. This is important because it’s a flip-flop from the days of old, where Apple products were rarely seen in the corporate landscape.   It’s also an indication that when BYOD wrested control over what devices consumers used from IT, they overwhelmingly chose an easy to use product that focused on UI and usability, perhaps even at times over depth.

The second interesting point is that while tablets are certainly hot, iPhones are driving most of the traffic. This may be due to the fact that the iPad doesn’t replace a laptop yet as the corporate device of choice, but try and take a business person’s smartphone away from them, and you may not have a hand left.  Smartphones are a must have, and we suspect that since people are already checking email on such a phone while they are working remotely, it’s an extra step to get out and bootup your tablet, so if you have a great phone app that does the same thing, just use it to view your files. Most editing we think still happens on the laptop/desktop.  This ‘on the go’ access is further confirmed by the fact that only 31 percent of iPhone sessions occurred over Wi-Fi, that means over three-quarters of access happens via cellular services”.

 

Looks like the Android platform is going to have some work cut out for it if it wants to get in the good graces of corporate users. Then again, special designs and arrangements from manufacturing giants would probably be a good way to start trying to get in the good graces of corporate folk.

source: TechCrunch

Android regains overall lead in smartphone sales in the U.S.

by Roy Alugbue on
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Good news for you Android stans out there— the Android platform has once again been the OS of choice during the holidays for those of you living out in the States. According to the latest study done by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the past 3 months ending in January 2013, Android smartphones accounted for 49.4% of overall smartphone sales, seeing a 6.4% growth compared to the same period last year. Android’s competitors did well also, though not as well as the Android platform. iOS was right behind Android for the period, accounting for 45.9% of overall smartphone sales, down 4.7% versus last year, while Windows Phones moved up to 3.2% of smartphone sales.

Additionally, the major wireless carriers in the U.S. had a fairly successful holiday period as it gobbled up the overall market share as well. Thanks to some great promotions and exclusives, Verizon moved back to the top spot by accounting for 35.2% smartphones, while AT&T fell to second with 28.2% of smartphone sales and Sprint held steady at third with its 14.2% share.

source: Kantar

Android to outpace Apple to 1 million available apps by June 2013

by Alexon Enfiedjian on
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Back in the day, people used to talk about app numbers a lot. The Android platform was constantly attacked for having less available apps than iOS and thus, they’d say, iOS was a better platform. As Android adoption sped up, so did app development, and today we see that both Android and iOS have more apps than we even need. All of the major products and companies have great apps for both platforms, so its really not a numbers game anymore, but people still like to play that game, so let’s play:

Just a few months ago, Google announced that it had crossed the 700,000 apps threshold and more recently we’ve heard that the Mountain View company is only a few thousand apps away from the number that’s available in iOS’ App Store. According to a new report by The Sociable, Android app development is outpacing iOS and Google is expected to reach the 1 million app milestone before Apple does. That would be an exciting and unexpected turn of events for our favorite underdog. Really though, app numbers don’t matter as much as app quality, and in the arena of app quality iOS has had Android beat for years. Thankfully Android developers have begun stepping it up recently, and things will only continue to get better. For some examples of great Android apps, check out our most beautiful apps list. Then sit back and wait to see who crosses the 1 million app finish line first (probably Android in June 2013 if the reports are anything to go by).

Source: Venture Beat

Facebook’s Mobile User Count Reveals Android And iOS Users Are Neck And Neck… But Android Is Growing At A Faster Rate

by Roy Alugbue on
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It’s no secret that more and more users of mobile devices prefer Android over everything else, but it also appears that more of us use Facebook on our devices compared to well… everyone else. I know you’re all slightly perplexed at where I am going, so let me explain— the Facebook app is no doubt a mainstay on mobile devices everywhere… regardless of what mobile OS the app is on. However— it appears there are more Facebook for Android users than Facebook for iPhone users. In fact– research indicates Facebook’s Android user count is growing much faster than its iPhone user base, despite the Facebook app being found on a lower percentage of Android devices. Through some raw data compiled by Benedict Evans, data shows that since September 2011, Facebook for Android had a 66 million monthly active user count (MAU) and Facebook for iPhone had a 91 million MAU. Moving to November 2012, Android had grown to a 192.8 million MAU while iPhone only had a 147.2 million MAU. The data shows that Facebook’s Android users helped Facebook reach a total of 604 million mobile users by the end of Q3 2012, which is tremendous.

As exciting as the findings are, there are some things to note. While there are more Facebook Android users than iPhone users, there are more Facebook iOS users overall when the iPad user base is taken into account. As it stands, there is a 48 million MAU for iPad users, which brings the total to 195.2 million MAU, just slightly more than the overall Android user base. In addition, the study could not take into account the integration that may not have been taken advantage of with iOS6 users, so the number could very well dwarf the number of Android users.

Still, the fact that Android users are not only adopting Facebook mobile at a faster rate, but are also contributing Facebook’s overall growth is certainly nothing to sneeze at. It will be interesting to see how the numbers grow as Facebook continues to get better and better for the Android platform.

source: TechCrunch

Android US market share continues to decline, Apple hits record high

by Colton Kaiser on
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Just last month Apple managed to retake the number one position in terms of mobile OS market share in the US, overtaking Google’s Android in the process. Today, it appears that trend has continued through the month of November, with Apple reaching its highest ever smartphone market share in the United States.

Figures released today show Android falling to 41.9%, a decline of nearly 11% over the previous year. On the other end of the spectrum, Apple now sits at a staggering 53.3%, a rise of 17.5% year-over-year. While Android has managed to reach nearly 60% at one point, this is the first time in the Cupertino company’s history that it has passed the 50% mark. For comparison, Microsoft’s Windows Phone is having a tough time reaching 3%, having been stuck in limbo since last year. RIM, on the other hand, has all but fallen completely off of the map, dropping nearly 6 points in just 12 months. » Read the rest

Google’s Eric Schmidt sends message to Apple, explains the ‘adult way to run a business’

by Colton Kaiser on
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While Google’s Eric Schmidt may have once served on the board of directors at Apple, that apparently hasn’t affected his impartiality. The search giant’s executive chairman took a direct shot at Apple today in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, sending the Cupertino company a personal message, letting them know that the current way they are conducting business is laughingly based on a “teenage model of competition,” as the press would like to put it.

Schmidt also expressed his dismay with Apple’s choice to drop Google Maps in iOS 6, a choice that inevitably proved embarrassing for Tim Cook and co. » Read the rest