Not even two and a half years after it was introduced and a mere 16 months after Verizon's Droid made it a favorite, Android is now the world's leading smartphone OS.
Canalysis released their report this morning called Google's (GOOG) Android becomes the world's leading smart phone platform thereby signaling the most incredible ascent of any technology I can remember in history. More importantly, Android is leading the charge to put smartphones, web-enabled handsets, into the whole word's hands. Both Gartner and IDC as recently as September didn't see this happening until 2014.
According to Canalys, Android was on over 33 million phones world wide. The previous market leader, Nokia's Symbian, was on 31 million. To put that in perspective, Android is now selling over 2x times Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry.
The scary thing is that Android's prospects are just looking better and better. While, CES this year highlighted some amazing new dual-core Superphones, most of Android's growth (and smartphone growth overall) will be on the low end, a place where Google is uniquely qualified to do well.
Engadget said of the news,
One day somebody will write a book called "The rise and rise of Android" and this moment will be highlighted in bold.
Ending a near 10-year reign, Google's Android has unseated Nokia's Symbian as the world's leading smartphone software. But, what does the rapid rise mean for Google, and the industry at large? Fortune's Seth Weintraub calls it "the most incredible ascent of any technology I can remember in history" -- the real significance being that "Android is leading the charge to put smartphones, web-enabled handsets, into the whole word's hands. Along with Nokia, "The numbers also highlight Google's success in battling Apple," writesReuters.
Unlike Apple or Nokia, Google offers its mobile operating system free to phone makers rather than making phones itself. "As a result, Android has become the standard software for many phone makers," Reuters notes. (There's even speculation that Nokia might introduce smartphone models using Android.) Still, "The growth is remarkable, given Android's newness," marvels Fast Company. Likewise, "Android was bound to become king eventually - it's free, scalable across all sorts of devices, and its growth has been tremendous - but it's certainly a surprise to see it gain the top smartphone spot so soon,"VentureBeat adds.
Overall, as GigaOm points out, Android's rise is representative of booming smartphone market. "The entire smartphone market grew by 89 percent year over year, with all the major players except Microsoft growing their shipment numbers," GigOm writes. "The explosion of smartphones ... means opportunities across the industry and potentially more shifts to come."
According to Mashable: "The change at the top was expected as Nokia recently reported comparably weak smartphone sales, a result of the company's struggles to transform its Symbian platform into a worthy competitor to Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
COMMENTARY: Really makes you feel sorry for Nokia. Those guys have really lost their mojo and are quickly losing a huge chunk of their smartphone market to Google Android and iPhone.
If Google gives Android away for FREE to the cellular phone manufacturer's, how do they make money?
- Google Apps - Google makes money (and justifies giving away the OS) by licensing the Google Apps that come on most Android phones (but not all). Apps like Gmail, the Android Market, Google Search, and others come in something called GAPPS. The Market is really where Google is interested. Sure, the other GAPPS add value to the phone (hence why carriers license their inclusion on Android-powered phones), but Google is making money with every app sold through the Market.
- Developer Listing Fees - Even free apps make Google money. Developers have to pay to have an account to list their apps under. Even ad-sponsored apps are likely using Google Mobile Ads, so Google's getting revenue from that source as well. That's not the elegance of Google's mobile revenue stream. Google isn't so much after making money from apps sold through their Market, or even by charging developers an admission fee to get their apps listed.
- Advertising - Google saw that computers were getting smaller and smaller, more and more mobile, and that consumer's were using their mobile phones to connect to the internet. By learning who you are, what you're interested it, and how you search for stuff... then helping you find it in an intuitive manner anywhere you are. Since many Android phone owners use the Google search app to conduct their searches, it's a fairly easy matter to track your online behaviors. Once Google is armed with the knowledge of who you are, namely the things you search for and sites you visit, they can present you with ads tailored to your online behavioral traits.
Courtesy of an article dated January 31, 2011 appearing in CNN Money Fortune and an article dated October 10, 2010 appearing in PocketNow.com and an article dated January 31, 2011 appearing in MediaPost Publications Around the Net
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