Android: 2010 versus 2011
This guest article was submitted by Calob Horton.
Android is installed on many different devices on many different carriers around the world. In fact, just recently, it passed iOS in the US market in terms of ad impressions because of that fact. And since the mobile web is riddled with plenty of ads, these numbers provide a deep understanding into just how many people use the operating system.
However, that was 2010.
We're in 2011 now, and the second-most OS in the US market is now on the two most popular carriers, AT&T and Verizon. Will Android continue to be as popular this year now that more people have more choices?
Ever since its inception, the iPhone has been on AT&T exclusively (except for that small period of time when AT&T was actually Cingular). It made people furious. Their appetites were whetted for a little while, however, when Google announced Android.
And because Android is available on the "big 4" carriers with an insane amount of hardware, it didn't take long for it to surpass iOS. But yet another survey shows that 16.8 percent of Verizon customers would gladly switch to the Verizon iPhone if it ever came out.
I'm not knocking on Android here, but the majority of Android devices that I see in use are from people on Verizon. In fact, many of my friends on the carrier only have an Android device because it's the closest thing they have to the iPhone. And many of today's teenagers think it's cool to have a smartphone, and Android is all they want to get because it looks more like iOS than the other choices out there. They don't know anything about rooting and probably don't care about Android being more open; we're talking about mainstream consumers who think Android is really called "Droid" because of those commercials, not techies who know better.
Given all of these facts, it doesn't seem too crazy to think that Android's sales will go down. Like it or not, the iPhone is a device that is wanted by a lot of people all over the world. Just look at Apple's Q1 results.
Android isn't going anywhere, and neither is iOS. But I think we're definitely going to see a change in sales for both. What do you think?
This guest article was submitted by Calob Horton.
