In smartphones, Android continues to chomp on Apple.
While not a direct search competitor, Google is facing off with Apple in a number of territories. While the iPad owns tablets, Android smartphones have succeeded a on global scale. According to a recent study, Android now holds 48 percent of market share.
The Phone Platform Study & Stats
Canalys, an independent technology analysis group, took a look at the platform share for phones in 56 countries. Android is in the lead for 35 of those countries, and not by a small margin. Android’s total is 48 percent of market share, with Apple, the second place competitor, holding only 19 percent. Nokia and Samsung, both of whom run their own platforms in addition to creating hardware for other OS’s, ranked third and fourth, respectively.
Android continues to broader its grasp in smartphones, but has almost completely failed to gain access to the tablet market; Apple currently holds roughly 90 percent of tablet market share. In any case, it’s clear that Android is on the rise and that smartphones and tablets are both continuing their saturation of the market.
Understanding the Smartphone Era
The world is turning more and more fully to smartphones, and as the market continues to saturate, the price of both phones and data plans continues to drop. It won’t be long before “dumbphones” are no longer. This means that the way we optimize for phones is ready to change. Rather than making a site designed for tiny screens and pre-3G network speeds, sites can contain more features and images.
Additionally, the introduction of HTML 5 expands the possibilities for function-based sites, while app development gives web developers yet another way to win loyalty from users. Meanwhile, geo-location becomes its own ad mechanism for local businesses, making optimizing for precise locale and providing accurate information to web hubs more vital than ever.
[Sources include: Reuters & cnet]
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“…but has almost completely failed to gain access to the tablet market;”
Except that Android tablets are estimated at 30% of the total tablet market. Yes, I know that’s shipments and not sales, but it’s still dramatic growth over the past year, and some manufacturers like Asus have actually increased production of their tablets. The androids are coming.
At least until the laptop-tablet-hybrids arrive and take over everything…
There is no doubt that Android is No.1 OS for smartphone but still they have to work hard to compete against iOS.