28 December, 2011
By Adnan
If you’re an Apple fanboy and think that the iPhone has no competitor in the market, think again! Android is slowly and gradually establishing itself as a major player in the worldwide smartphone market. Even if you didn’t give anyone an Android device over this Christmas, you’ll be surprised to know that over 3.7 million Android devices were activated during Christmas, all around the world.
Earlier this month, we reported that Google is now activating over 700,000 Android devices daily, globally. The numbers are up from June 2011, when daily activations were around 500,000 in number. This is solid proof that Android devices are gaining popularity amongst smartphone owners all around the world.
For long people have accused Google of including re-sold devices and upgrades in its activation statistics. However last month Android Chief Andy Rubin clarified that they only count brand new devices as activations. Hence that means that over 3.7 million new Android devices were activated on December 24 and December 25. That’s amazing!
The holiday season isn’t even over yet and regardless of that, there has been a sharp rise in sale of Android devices. Much of this is actually attributed to the fact that Google allows other manufacturers to build their own devices and then license the Android operating system. On the other hand, only Apple alone makes the hardware for its iOS mobile platform and not everyone tends to buy an Apple iOS based product primarily because they’re being sold at sky-high prices.
There has also been a sharp increase in app downloads from the Android market. Earlier this year in May, over 3 billion apps had been downloaded in app from the Market. Fast forward 7 months and in December 2011, over 10 billion apps have been download from the Market, including both paid and free ones. The numbers are amazing for Android and it really is proving itself to be a tough competitor for Apple’s iOS in the smartphone market. With the launch of Android Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus, these numbers are bound to shoot up in the near future.
