Android overtakes iPhone in consumer desirability

April 26, 2011 5:43 PM
Mikko Torikka
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Android is now the most desired smartphone operating system, reports market research company Nielsen. According to Nielsen’s figures from January to March 31 percent of consumers indicate Android as their preferred operating system. Apple’s iOS’s share was 30 percent.

Android did overtake iPhone quite quickly. Nielsen did the same study in July-September 2010. During that time, 33 percent of consumers wanted an iPhone and 26 percent wanted a device with Android operating system.

Desirability can also be seen in consumer behavior. Half of all smartphones purchased in the last six months are using Google’s Android operating system.

iPhone’s share among the recent acquirers was 25 percent, RIM’s 15 percent and Windows Phone 7 had a 7 percent share. The total installed base of smartphones is also dominated by Android — 37 percent of all smartphones in the U.S. are Android phones. Apple’s market share is 27 percent and RIM BlackBerry’s 22 percent.

One thing that could explain Android’s popularity is the variety of available Android smartphones. There are Android phones in multiple price categories and features vary from basic entry-level phones to the latest state-of-the-art smartphones.

Apple offers only high-end iPhones and that possibly explains the difference in desirability and new phone sales in Nielsen’s data. The iPhone is desired by many, but there are an overwhelming amount Android phones that are more affordable, as well as some that offer more features.

  • http://twitter.com/GaelicSpawn Tom Kinney

    While there's probably some truth to the different levels of Android being part of the reason, I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that people are starting to get a dislike for the way Apple does business, and would prefer to go with an alternative. With Apple, you are super-limited with what you can do outside the Apple network of products. So long as there is a legitimate alternative, Apple won't succeed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bob.latterman Bob Latterman

    Android phones are, for the most part, iPhone copy cats – you need to take that into account. People like the UI “feel” that Apple started.

  • imekka

    Android phones are iPhone copy cats? Try the other way around.Look at the top features of the iPhone 4: High res screen and camera, multitasking, folders, custom background, I could go on. The iPhone 4 was a conglomeration of all the new features android brought to the table the previous year.Now look at the iPhone 5 rumors: bigger screen, less bezel, 8MP camera (available on the incredible over a year ago), its shaping up to be another bunch of copied features from android.I'm waiting for Apple to copy android's superior notification system, widgets, multitasking, browsers, and level of customization. Sure the iPhone may have these features in 2012 but it will always be a step behind, and consumers are starting to notice when the “newest” iPhone features are just rehashed versions of features that are old news on android.

  • cyberslammer2

    I have no interest in a fragmented operating system that has no version control across the different hardware models…it's like being in a giant room full of Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

  • http://profiles.google.com/ttripp Timothy Tripp

    One of the things that I've always hated about Symbian is that they ALWAYS lumped their throw-away phones in with their high-end smart phones and would only release the cumulative numbers in their earnings reports, disclosures to press, etc. That inflated their overall numbers and made it very difficult to gauge the real number of high-end Symbian devices out there. I really hope Android isn't heading down that same path. Every Barnes & Noble Nook, for example, is included in the Android sales figures, even though it's definitely not a phone and unless you root it, isn't really much of an Android OS platform device. It's more a custom device running on the Android kernel. It's actually fine that the Android OS has fragmented. It just shows how versatile it is, but it's time to start reporting the numbers of throw-away Asian handsets separately from, say, the Thunderbolt-like Smartphones, and the phones separately from the tablets (even though the tablet numbers are still pretty dismal, with some estimates being in the 150k range, they'll pick up).This applies to Apple, too. They shouldn't group “iOS” devices into a single category, they seem to be falling into that trap to hit the “billion whatever” marketing points, but grouping iPods and iPads in the same discussion is just crazy. I'd like to see Apples to apples in analyst reports, not marketing slight of hand.

  • http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

    Everyone copies everyone, it's the way of tech world. Apple gets points for starting the current smartphone trend, but clearly people want cheaper devices that aren't tied into Apple's ecosystem.

  • http://twitter.com/akhatman Akhat

    Of course, Android platform has grown. Ok, guys, take a look at how many Androids have appeared on the market. People do not give preference directly to the platform; it is more likely that they just want a phone different from an iPhone (for whatever reasons), and here comes the Android. Would you doubt in the calculations?Another question is that after increasing this platform share, where Android will go with their platform, which surely returns from so many phones less than iOS returns from only a few, all of which belong to Apple.We'll see it pretty quickly, just a matter of a couple of years.

  • http://profiles.google.com/kdsandeep Sandeep Deshpande

    I have no interest in Apple which makes expensive gadgets

  • http://profiles.google.com/camlablondon David Johnson

    Android is known for quality products and services. I like Android‘s product.

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