Fragmented Android beats flatlined iPhone: Market share shenanigans ahoy!

By Richi Jennings. April 5, 2011.

Updated: The latest smartphone market share figures put Android devices at #1: well ahead of Apple's iPhone in third place. Apple fanbois call Android "fragmented", but fandroids counter that the iPhone shinyness has worn off. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers try to separate the warring factions.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention how Jacqueline Howett publicly and hilariously destroyed her reputation as a book author...
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Paul Thurrott says, "Android usage surged in the previous quarter":

[It's] the latest indication that Google's mobile OS isn't just winning the war—it's destroying ... Apple. ... In the United States, Android usage ... gained an amazing seven percentage points ... according to comScore.
...
The number-two player, RIM, saw its BlackBerry OS nosedive almost 5 percent. ... Apple's iPhone placed third with 25 percent ... a figure that is essentially unchanged. ... It's not growing as fast as the market, and it has lost usage share.
...
Samsung is the most popular ... smartphone hardware maker ... with almost 25 percent of the market, followed by LG, Motorola, RIM, and Apple.

And Darren Allan adds the view from over there:

Android is, of course, also flying out ... in Europe ... as IDC figures have indicated that [it's] also the number one smartphone OS [here].
...
And a poll in the UK ... underlines Android’s over-taking of the likes of iOS. ... 2,000 adults were questioned and 28% owned an Android smartphone, compared to 26% with an iPhone. ... Android’s steeply upward success curve isn’t likely to be curtailed any time soon ... marking a threat to the more expensive ... iPhone.

Jonny Evans, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun:

Given a choice between following the lead of Steve Jobs, or this Andy Rubin character, who would you choose? The innovator, or the follower? ... Andy Rubin, has become the king of the Android world, the Dalek Davros, seeking to assimilate an entire budding mobile phone industry to his robotic will.
...
Android ... [is] an utterly fragmented mess of phones from different manufacturers. ... I fail to see how Android is any more open than Windows Mobile. ... Nokia will ... decimate ABI's market prediction ... that Google's smartphone OS would take 45 percent of the market by 2016.

Ever ready, Joe Wilcox follows the trend:

Android's smartphone subscriber gains are nothing short of phenomenal and seemingly unstoppable. ... One in three American smartphone users have Android. ... It's April now, so the numbers are surely higher. ... Since the end of September, then, Android market share rose from 21.4 percent to 33 percent. ... Holy Moly.
...
Android has unbelievable momentum, with sales up 888.8 percent in 2010 ... but Apple is treading water. ... Have you noticed that Apple has started to aggressively advertise iPhone 4 on television again?

Meanwhile, Ina Fried has a suggestion for Apple:

Qriously’s polling found that 79 percent of ... 10,500 Android users ... believe Apple builds a good product, with only 21 percent disagreeing. ... More would be open to buying an iPhone if it could also run their Android apps. ... About a third of respondents thought the iPhone had better apps. 
...
Qriously bills itself as a quick way ... to gauge public sentiment. It serves up its questions within [apps] replacing advertisements with ... survey questions. ... Qriously would offer app developers an additional way to monetize. ... Many developers say it is still hard to make money selling their programs ... with many turning to advertising.

 
And Finally...
Jacqueline Howett publicly and hilariously destroys her reputation as a book author
[Warning: she drops the F-bomb; hat tip: Miranda]
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.