Android top OS in the US, iPhone most popular smartphone

Emil

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Android has grabbed 43.6 percent of the US smartphone market in the third quarter, making it the dominant player in the US for mobile operating systems, according to Canalys. At the same time, Apple captured 26.2 percent of the market, beating out RIM's 24.2 percent (last quarter RIM had 32.0 percent while Apple had 21.7 percent). That means that all the iPhone versions combined were more popular than all the BlackBerries combined. Meanwhile, Microsoft was dead last this quarter with a mere 3.0 percent.

Worldwide, things are slightly different. Nokia and the Symbian Foundation still dominate the stage as the leading smart phone OS vendor, owning 33 percent of the market (compared to 38 percent last quarter). Android grabbed a quarter of the market thanks to large numbers of devices from Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson. Apple snatched 17 percent, RIM took 15 percent, while Microsoft once again settled for a lowly three percent (though Windows Phone is expected to change that). The worldwide smart phone market grew 95 percent over the same quarter a year ago to 80.9 million shipped units.

"Where smart phone growth in mature Western markets has been driven by high-end products, in many emerging markets where disposable income is more constrained, growth is being driven by good-quality products that can attract mass-market volumes in the mid-tier of the market," Chris Jones, Canalys Principal Analyst, said in a statement. "To succeed in these markets, vendors need to offer smart phones that provide consumers with the same ability to engage with the locally relevant mobile applications and connected services that consumers want to use, but at a more locally accessible price."

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Oh.! Open Source is proving that Large maker like the cheap or free software, as for Iphone, im my country it is the favorite one although not everybody can acces one for the price.
 
I just want a really good smartphone that still has a qwerty keyboard without sacrificing in other areas. I hate using the touch screen on my Samsung Behold II to type. Although it might just be this particular phone.
 
The great thing for Google is, they don't care about which smart phone is most popular. They just have to worry about which OS is the most popular. I think this trend is going to continue though. Apple can't retain the OS industry with just the Iphone, but for some reason they have the touch when it comes to hardware.

I'm just happy to see that an OS on multiple hardware can be stable and quick. People have always believed Microsoft has had a problem making a stable OS due to the amount of software they have to support. I'm happy to see an open source OS be able to bridge multiple hardware and still be able to retain its stability.
 
Here is one reason why I hate how people compare android or windows phone to apple. The iOS can ONLY run on one specific device.. an iphone. so of course it is the most popular phone. Lets say android could only run on the HTC Evo and no other device.. I bet you the Evo would be more popular.. but due to windows and android being able to run on any device created for it that just cuts open the numbers for most used device. Just my two cents
 
Well its kind of obvious that Android dominates the OS segment since it can be found on most of the smartphones, unlike IOS4 which only resides in the Iphone4... Still I agree with taea00, he has a good point when he says "I'm just happy to see that an OS on multiple hardware can be stable and quick"... that is not an easy task to accomplish...
 
I dare to think that Android will ultimately become the ”Windows for smartphones”, beating even WP7 to that.
And yes, it doesn't matter if iPhone will continue to be the most popular (single) smartphone, Android and WP7 smartphones (plus the upcoming webOS and MeeGo armies) will soon outnumber it by far.
 
I think one of the reasons why the iPhone/iOS has been so successful and why its brand name is so strong is because it has one main product at one time, currently the iPhone 4 and previously just the iPhone 3GS. This does not exist for Android. If you want Android there is Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and more with two or three different smartphones each. Even more of an issue is that different carriers have different names for the same phone (ex: Samsung Galaxy S = Samsung Fascinate (Verizon)). This reduces the success and popularity of these Android phones. Their names do not become well-known/established, meaning that no one phone becomes the "phone to get" of Android (though a year and a half ago Motorola Droid or Google's Nexus came really close).

There are lots of good Android phones (Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Galaxy X, etc), but the huge variety and fragmentation inhibits the Android OS from having an iconic phone.
 
Tbh all I care about is who has the best user experience, and best phone. In fact this notion is true for most of us.
 
crzydave said:
I just want a really good smartphone that still has a qwerty keyboard without sacrificing in other areas. I hate using the touch screen on my Samsung Behold II to type. Although it might just be this particular phone.

Probably; android and iOS have a good on-screen keyboard. You should try looking at a Desire Z/G2 or Droid (1 or 2). Or if you're on a budget, get yourself(like me) a second-hand G1. If you don't want android, you can get yourself phones like the Touch Pro2.

IMO this is a good development; I'm an android fan, mostly because of the customizability and the price.
 
Symbian is the most outdated OS, but is still on top and Maemo is barely a contender, Nokia needs to pick their game up if they want to keep that top position.
 
IMO Android deserves to be on top i hated my windows phone it was slow and crashed all the time i can have my phone on for days with no problems with android i love it. I hate to see the iphone on top its an ok phone in an ipod package while most android phones are great in an awesome package. Apple is by far the worst in customer service lets see lets make a phone and have tons pf problems with it but blame the consumer.
 
Android is a great OS IMO. Its seems to work so well, I am so pleassed with my HTC Desire and it just seems to work! The Apple iPhone is a nice phone, but I had to laugh at the alarm bug. I mean, why would a phone put the alarm forward an hour?! Good for you Android, I woke up on time! :)
 
I am hoping to get a new Droid soon. I'm not much of an iPhone fan, seeing all of the problems they have had and how I already have an iPod touch, I don't really think I need another Apple product. Except for a laptop maybe... Yeah I could use an apple laptop. :)
 
As expected.. definately andriod is better but the hardware and some features are still missing in it
 
So, now android has almost half of the smartphone market? That too after coming late to the party? Just shows the power of collaboration and being free (in both senses of the word).

Android is in countless phones right now and that has spurred on its growth. This is also the reason the iPhone 4 was the largest selling smartphone in the US, because there is just one iPhone, but many android phones with varied abilities and different target audiences.

Android has and will have something for everyone and that is going to keep it at the top of the heap for some time to come.
 
Android is probably be going to be the OS for smartphones Nokia seems to beslowly losing its shine as time passes & symbian is not good as the android.The best thing about android it is like OS for PC can operate on many machines unlike the iOS .Nokia needs to really consider a lot of factors like the OS its phone uses & the cost for selling the phones.
 
The only reason the iPhone iOS is not the most popular OS in Europe is the price. The price of the iPhone here is forbidding for most people. On the contrary Nokia offers cheap Symbian smartphones and sells more than everyone.
 
@kaonis92

Same here in the asian region, prices of the iOS are higher compared to the competition. If only my iPhone wasnt given as a gift I wouldve gotten myself a brand new spankin Windows Phone 7.... or Android...?
 
Android is an unstoppable force and Apple has become a sad punchline. All you see about them lately is bad news. You know, they say that any press is good press.... I don't think so anymore when I look at Apple. Glitchy software, defective hardware, bad customer service.... Everyone say goodbye to Apple while you still can....

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