Gadgets Blog » droid

In some surprising news this week, sales reports from the first quarter of 2010 revealed quite the interesting trend: Google’s Android operating system might slowly be gaining some ground upon their competitor, Apple. An article published in PC Magazine Online announced the news, which was quite surprising for the future of the smartphone market. While the Apple mobile OS runs exclusively on the iPhone, Android has the advantage of being available on several different models of phone, including Motorola’s Droid. The article itself provided some insight into the new market break-down.

Android phones climbed to 28 percent, above Apple at 21 percent. The numbers are somewhat unexpected, given that other research firms, such as comScore, have placed Android phones, which has placed the Android OS at 10 percent for February.

On Friday, IDC released its first-quarter market share data, placing Nokia and RIM atop the worldwide market, with 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent of the market, respectively. Apple finished third, with 16.1 percent, and HTC was fourth at 4.8 percent. IDC did not reveal its share breakdown for the various OS flavors, however.

Likewise, for the first quarter within the U.S., comScore said that Samsung, Motorola, and LG finished in a virtual dead heat, with 21.9, 21.9, and 21.8 percent of the market. Again, comScore did not break out first-quarter market share for the various Android flavors.

The news is certainly exciting for Google, but should be expected due simply to the varying number of phones available running each OS. What once was regarded as a strength for Apple, brand integrity, appears to be harming them over time. By only having a single phone in the market, Apple has the potential to lose customers who want something slightly less than the expensive iPhone. By using their operating system for a wide variety of phones, Google can gain market share more effectively, a great option for the company as it tries to catch up.