On the eve of Droid's much anticipated launch on the Verizon network, Android is poised to take off and grab challenge the Apple's recent dominance. Even with Droid's launch, Android saw significant market growth in September - representing 17% of smartphone activity vs. 13% in August. According to AdMob's September 2009 Mobile Report:
Devices running on Android accounted for 17% of smartphone traffic in the US in September 2009, up from 13% in August 2009. The HTC Dream (G1) was the number three device and the HTC Magic was the number 10 device in September 2009 in the US. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob’s network came from applications.
The iPhone still represents 48% of smartphone activity, but Android has moved ahead of RIM (14%). And the future for Android is bright considering:
- Droid's rave reviews - Droid's multi-handset product line and low prices - Android's carrier agnostic approach (while Apple is currently tied exclusively to AT&T)
Also noteworthy, the iPhone now represents a staggering 60+% of AT&T's smartphone activity. If Droid, for instance, reached even a fraction of that dominance on Verizon (which is dominated by RIM AT ~35%), Android will realize serious growth.
