Friday, March 4, 2011

Android ahead in the U.S. smartphone platform race, but RIM, Apple tied in the HW manufacturer race

Android is winning the war in U.S. market when it comes to smartphone, but Apple and RIM are in a dead heat in terms of handset manufacturers, according to the latest data released on March 3 by market research firm The Nielsen Company.

Thus, whether or not you love Android or iOS, you can cheer this report.

In terms of platforms, Android (29 percent) has edged ahead of RIM (BlackBerry) (27 percent) and Apple (iOS) (27 percent). However, as many have noted before, the exclusivity of iOS to Apple only devices and BlackBerry OS to RIM devices mean that those two manufacturers, have an advantage from an OEM to OEM perspective in terms of market share.

What that means is that while Android as a platform may be winning the smartphone race, since it is split among a number of manufacturers (HTC, Motorola, Samsung, LG among them), it's impossible for any one of those manufacturers to come up with numbers in the iPhone territory.

For those who are always complaining about a lack of accessories, that two makes sense. The multiple form factors of Android phones means it's not necessarily easy to find a case, for example, and certainly not the variety of cases that the iPhone 4 might have.

In terms of hardware, its RIM and Apple leading the pack, followed by HTC with 12 percent of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7 percent owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS for a total of 19 percent. Motorola follows after HTC with 10 percent of consumer smartphone owners toting a Motorola Android device and one percent owning a Microsoft OS-based Motorola device.

Via: Nielsen

No comments:

Post a Comment