The battle between iPhone and Android has always been a little one sided in my opinion, what with iPhone being the flagship in smartphones that hold a universal appeal for such a diverse cross-section of users; however, the amount of Android phones purchased last year have outsold iPhones for the first time in history.
As Gigaom states, “New smartphone subscribers choosing Google phones accounted for 27 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, the Nielsen Company will announce this morning, nudging past the 23 percent share held by Apple. But Android isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon: Canalys today estimates that Android handset sales grew 886 percent worldwide from the year ago quarter.”
This sudden influx may be due to lower handset prices and cheaper rental packages in relation to the current economic crisis, with people wanting to save money on luxurious items such as iPhones, yet still enjoy the trappings of a smartphone, such as apps, a touch screen etc. Or it could simply be to do with Android marketing themselves as a viable alternative to the costly iPhone, with a wide range of different apps to rival the App Store’s 350,000 and counting.
Either way, with the sudden rush of converts and new customers that Android is seeing, it begs the question as to whether Android will overtake apple in the apps department as well?
Writing for Technolog, Athima Chansanchai says, “The jolly green robot’s Android Market has sprouted up 127 percent since August, putting it at three times the growth of the Apple App Store (44 percent), according to the second report released by mobile security company Lookout and its App Genome Project, which has analyzed more than 500,000 Android and iOS applications since the project commenced last summer. If this rate of growth continues for both marketplaces, the report says Android Market will have more apps than the Apple App Store by mid-2012.”
Consumers seem more willing to empty their wallets to get Android apps over Apple’s, as figures show that, “The Market’s paid apps increased from 22 percent in August to 34 percent this month, while the App Store’s paid apps decreased slightly during the same time, from 71 percent to 66 percent.”
However, while the sheep may be bleating at Android’s door, the shepherds seem to be staying loyal to Apple, with almost 24,000 developers approaching Apple between August 2010 and February 2011, with a paltry 4,000 defecting to Android during the same time period. Perhaps Android developers are just more prolific?!
But will all of this really trouble Apple? With such an all encompassing empire, they have enough fingers in pies to sustain themselves while they continue to explore new and exciting avenues; what really matters is that they are the torchbearers of the digital generation and that every company’s new tablet, smartphone or otherwise is simply an imitation of their own, pale or otherwise. If the Android war becomes a case of the student overtaking the master, then Apple can rest on its laurels knowing that their rivals have only got so high by standing on the shoulders of giants.
What do you think? Will Android crush iPhone in the apps market or will Apple stand strong and slay all opponents?!
Good summary and stats! I think iPhone will have a stiff competition and most likely Android will catch up. The power of so much variety of Android handsets is just hard to beat. At the same time the quality, ease of use and the innovations apple come up with will always keep it’s fan base.
Hi Alex,
I agree, I think that the way the economic climate is going, then people will always look for a cheaper option and with all of the money that Android will be getting to put into development, then they can get their phones to be around the same level as iPhone…however, I still reckon that companies will always just be following Apple’s lead, albeit at a close range!
David Harfield
Editor
iPhoneAppCafe
Android is difficult for small developers, just as Symbian was, because of its diversity.
Each handset or device is unique – with the best will in the world, you can never iron out all the individual quirks. A bug might only occur on one handset, or set of handsets. To maintain quality, and properly support such issues when they arise, you have to have access to as wide as possible selection of handsets, so you can detect issues early, or reproduce them when they are reported.
This is easy for big software houses – they can afford to keep a few rooms full of handsets for testing.
But the little guy with the great idea is at a serious disadvantage, until their business grows enough to be able to afford a proper test setup.
Apple is different. Their handsets are so nearly homogenous, that you can be almost (but not quite) 100% confident that an app tested on one phone will work the same way on another. With Apple, the little guy with the great idea is free to compete on level terms with the big players
This is why innovators prefer Apple.
It seem android is going to lead the race in terms of Apps too.
[…] With Android overtaking iPhone in sales, the question is, will apps be next? Well, it doesn’t really matter if they do, seeing as there only three home screens to fit apps on, so you have to be pretty selective! […]
is this a F%$# JOKE!