Above: Android HTC EVO 4G on the Sprint network. Photo by: Caroline et Louis Volant.
Report number one:
Recent predictions have been made by the Gartner firm which state that global smartphone sales will reach 468 million units this year and Android will rise to 38.5% of the market. They also predict that by 2012, Android will increase to 50% but dip to 48.8% within three years afterward.
Report number two:
Recently, Google has come under fire for being less than open which is part of the core identity of the open source nature of the Android developer platform (which is why so many developers have flocked to Android) and more than half of those surveyed consider Android OS’ fragmentation to be a problem along with app store visibility.
Last night, Google’s VP of Engineering, Andy Rubin blogged his defense and pledged a commitment to remaining an open development platform and that their strategy has not changed.
What does this mean for progress?
The market has longed for a strong Apple competitor and Google seems to be who has stepped up to bat. There are grumblings in the developer community, but sales of the smartphone devices are growing so quickly that we predict the grumblings will quiet as developers see monetization of their apps pay off. Progress is not off the table, in fact, it’s just getting started.
Our research shows that the majority of our readers are currently smartphone shopping and Android’s reputation does have an impact on those decisions. Will Android take half of the market? We’re not too sure of that, but it is certainly poised to take some of Apple’s marketshare.
Dean Ouellette
April 7, 2011 at 2:38 pm
I like that you write about this stuff but don’t see it much anymore since you went to partial rss feeds. Please consider going back to full feed so I can add you back in.
Lani Rosales
April 19, 2011 at 1:45 pm
We wish we could! But no can do, the hard work of our writers was being scraped more than [insert gross joke here] and it was hurting our rankings.
Blame the scrapers 🙁 We are not happy about it either.