In Q1 1020, Droid Outsells IPhone – Android Vs. IPhone
As the Android, the underdog phone, outsold the iPhone in first quarter 2010, the iPhone vs. Android battle became more interesting. Android won this most recent iPhone vs. Android battle, but Apple is still winning the iPhone vs. Android war. Apple enjoys a huge lead in total smartphone sales over Android. Blackberry, of course, dominates the field. While Apple iPhone and Blackberry sales are down, the Android market is trending upward. Some analysts think those trends will continue, allowing the Android phone to tighten the iPhone vs. Android margin.
iPhone vs. Android milestone
The NPD Group reports that the Android vs. iPhone matchup hit a milestone when the Android phone captured 28 percent of smartphone sales in the last quarter. NPD reports that Apple's iPhone won 21 percent of all the smartphone sales, while Research in Motion's Blackberry took 36 percent. According to ComScore, a digital market research firm, a key stat in Android vs. iPhone is that Google's Android operating system had just nine percent of the market as of February 2010, compared with the iPhone's 25.4 percent.
Gains for Android, others falter
In winning the latest round of iPhone vs. Droid, PC World explains that Google's OS is the only smartphone OS whose share of sales grew over the previous quarter. iPhone sales in the meantime are failing and Blackberry, Windows, and WebOS sales are falling like a mortgage loan modification. If this trend continues, PC World's J.R. Raphael said Android will catch up to its competitors for total market share in a very short time.
how did Android possible beat iPhone?
Android phone sales may have overtaken Apple's iPhone, according to the Los Angeles Times, because of Google's freewheeling partnering tactics that have gotten the Android operating system onto as many phones, served by as many wireless carriers, as possible. There are now more than 30 Android-powered devices from 12 equipment manufacturers. These devices include T-mobile, Verizon, AT and T, and Sprint.
Is iPhone Verizon on the horizon?
The iPhone Verizon offering seems larger as Google won the latest round of the iPhone vs. Droid scuffle. In a partnership that is very exclusive in a saturated market, Apple is tied to AT and T. Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, told Computerworld, "That's your classic technology acquisition curve. Of those in the U.S. who are interested in an iPhone and willing to put up with AT and T, pretty much all have already bought one. What's left for Apple -- as long as it's tied to AT and T in its exclusive partnership -- is largely the iPhone replacement market."
Soaring worldwide is the iPhone
Apple won’t say when but it is expected that the iPhone Verizon deal will happen. Apple is continuing the iPhone vs. Droid matchup everywhere else. Last month Apple announced Worldwide iPhone sales were up 131 percent in the first quarter compared to the same three-month stretch in 2009.
Citations
NPD reports
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100510.html
PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/195958/android_outsells_apple_iphone_at_last_says_npd.html
Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/05/google-android-overtakes-iphone-npd-research.html