Google’s Android Phones Challenge Apple iPhone For Market Share

At a media forum on July 8, 2010 in Idaho, Google executives Larry Page and Sergey Brin informed Journalists that Steve Jobs was re-writing Android's history to align with Apple’s interests. They argued that contrary to Steve Jobs claims Google had been working on Android long before the iPhone was launched in 2007.

Now the question most industry watchers are asking is if Google had been working on an Android powered phone why they did wait until September 2008 a year after the iPhone was launched to introduce the G1 phone?

The facts suggest that Google ventured into the phone business following the realization that the future of computing would be in portable mobile devices. As a result, they went into the phone business with the goal of dominating web search on mobile devices just like they had done on the desktop. This notion is supported by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google whose published comments in the UK Guardian newspaper on June 25th 2010 suggests he wants Android to be the Windows of Mobile.

In contrast, Apple appears to have invested in the phone business as a re-positioning strategy and with a goal to make huge revenue from the sale of the smartphone hardware itself. Also with the advent of the smart phones, Apple realized that there was a huge potential in the area of mobile Advertising. This was why they sought to acquire Admob which Google later acquired.As a result Apple acquired Quatro wireless which is Admob’s biggest competitor. Afterwards Google’s Admob was shut out from iAd -Apples mobile Advertising platform.

As the smart phone war rages on Bloomberg News reports that Apple has sold more than 50 million iPhones since its introduction. According to Apple CEO, Steve Jobs the latest version, iPhone 4 has sold more than 3 million units since its June 24, 2010 debut. Analysts believe iPhones account for nearly 35 percent of Apples $42.9 billion revenue. Also, the iPhone has over 200,000 applications with over 5 billion downloads till date.

Just like Apple, Google is achieving success with Android powered smartphones like HTC EVO, Droid X, and Droid Incredible as sales have continued to rise dramatically. A confirmation of Android’s growth could be seen from the positive comments made by Google’s Senior VP of Product Management, Jonathan Rosenberg in July 2010.According to Mr. Rosenberg there are 160,000 Android-based devices being activated daily. He stated that Android search grew by 300 percent in the first half of 2010, with strong growth expected to continue.

Mr. Rosenberg added that overall revenue jumped by 24 percent year-on-year and profit increased by 19 percent, as well. Today, they are over 70,000 Apps and by the end of the year they should reach 100,000.A pointer to the rapid growth of Google’s Android could be discerned from Comscore, which reported on July 8 2010 that Google's Android platform grew by 44 percent from February to May.

Remarkably inspite of the increase in Android’s market share Comscore’s report showed that as at July, 2010 that RIM was number one with 41.7 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.4 percent share. Microsoft was 3rd with a 13.2 percent share;Google’s Android was 4th with 13 percent and Palm was 5th with 4.8 percent market share. Market analysts say a review of the totality of the Market indicates that Android is growing at a rate that will see it outpace all its competitors.

About the Author:
This article was written by Henry Aladiume, the CEO/President of Elnegy, a consumer electronics company based in Houston, Texas. The Elnegy website showcases top consumer electronics brands like mobile phones and car stereos systems.