Android continues to grow, with over 900,000 devices based on the OS now being activated every day, according to Andy Rubin, who heads up development of the smartphone operating system at Google.
That figure compares to around 500,000 devices per day at the end ofJune last year, and 850,000 per day at the end of February, accordingto Twitter messages from Rubin, who didn’t elaborate on the splitbetween smartphones, tablets and other device types.
First-quarter shipments of Android smartphones were up 145 percent on ayear earlier, giving the OS, a global smartphone market share of 59percent, according to IDC, which keeps track of units sold to thechannel as opposed to devices activated by users.
However, all is not well in the Android camp. Last week, High TechComputer (HTC) lowered its expected revenuefor the second quarter dueto lower-than-anticipated sales to Europe, and the delayed shipment andlaunch of certain products in the U.S., the company said.
Along with HTC, Sony Mobile, LG Electronics and Google-owned MotorolaMobility are all trying to find their place in a smartphoneworldincreasingly dominated by Samsung Electronics and Apple.
Most of the growth, though, will happen in the market for cheapsmartphones where the likes of ZTE and Huawei Technologies are pushingdown prices. These new entrants are expecting lower profit margins,said Richard Kramer, managing partner at Arete Research, in a keynotespeech during the recent Open Mobile Summit conference in London.
Smartphone sales will totalbetween 750 million and 800 million units,or over US$230 billion by value during 2012, according to Kramer.However, Apple, Samsung Electronics and HTC are the only vendors makingmoney, he said at the time.
Google’s Android will still be the king of smartphone operatingsystem’s in 2016, but its market share will erode as Windows Phonetakes off, according to a report from market research company IDC.
By the end of 2012, Android’s smartphone market share will be 61percent, but in four years its share will have dropped to about 53percent, according to IDC.
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