"According to Gartner, Android had just 3.9% of the market in 2009, less than a third of Apple's share. For 2010, that number will be up to 17.7%, edging out the sinking BlackBerry for second place," reportsSilicon Alley Insider. And though SIA admits its surprising how fast Google has moved up, it says, "It's been clear that this was coming for some time now."
"Gartner's predictions are based on Android's current growth trajectory, which has been explosive as of late," writes Ars Technica, which also reports that Android is on pace to become the No. 1 operating system in North America, outpacing Symbian here, "as long as the platform maintains its currently strong growth numbers."
While it's easy to play the Google vs. Apple game, The Next Web says not to: "Bear in mind that this still isn't a game of Android versus iPhone. The apples-to-oranges comparrison simply isn't fair given Android's availability across a number of devices and carriers."
It also seems increasingly apparent that Android will be the platform of choice only for smart phones. Since the OS is open source it's already been used to power tablet devices (among other things), but Google says Froyo (Android 2.2) is not optimized for tablets. "There are currently several Android-based tablets in the works, including those from LG, Lenovo, and Samsung," writes PC Mag. "Google, meanwhile, is working on its Chrome operating system, though it plans to release Chrome OS-based netbooks before tablets."
Under the headline "Google's Got a Huge Problem And Its Name's Android," IT ProPortal says, "The company will face a conundrum towards the end of the year as to how to manage two operating systems, the extremely popular Android OS and the new kid on the block, Chrome OS."
This is a problem Microsoft wishes it had.
COMMENTARY: ANDROID -- the "iPhone Killer". Yeahhh!!
Courtesy of an article dated September 10, 2010 appearing in MediaPost Publications Around The Net
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