These numbers are before the iPhone came out for Verizon. It will be interesting to see if the iPhone's availability on more than a single carrier will affect these numbers. I think it's clear that Apple's exclusivity to a single carrier has hurt their marketshare.
I agree, but also see other posts which seem to indicate (at least from early results) that most of Verizon's iPhone business was coming at the expense of AT&T (people switching carriers rather than buying into a particular OS). A couple of app vendors were hoping for a big spike when V launched but have yet to see it in terms of sales.
Revenues may not be as good, but it seems like Android treats its developers nicer than Apple does. No chance of rejection, no harsh guidelines, no long review process (for acceptance or for updates), no taking 30% of subscription revenue... overall, it seems like they view their developers as equal. When you're developing for iOS, you're developing on Apple's platform (not sure if this conveys what I mean here completely...). You can't compete with their applications, you can't be sure they'll let you in, and you can't even chose how subscribers will pay now. Yes, on Android you're developing on Google's platform, but it seems less like a "sharecropping" situation, even though it technically is.
On the other hand, your point about revenue is still spot on. Fewer paying customers, less expectation of paying for apps, and the glaring fact that you simply can't buy Android apps in a large portion of the world. The first two are difficult (a culture shift is required, and that can't be passed down from Google in an OS update), but the third is perhaps fixable. The issues with iOS aren't likely to change, because that's Apple's culture.
I don't know about RIM, and "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent".
compared to the previous dec 2010 comscore press release (last 3 months ending ), apple, microsoft, palm and rim all declined but android.. as stronger android models come up to at&t and lte android takes the lead, android apparently will quickly rise to 50%. but beyond that it will be a fragmentation between apple, rim, ms and legacy symbians.
Even though I don't write mobile apps I am glad to see news like this. The reason is that if I do have to learn how to code mobile apps then Android would be my first choice. I wouldn't feel like I was wasting my time learning another VB-like technology stack.
Like when your job forces you to learn Visual Basic for a project. Android is something that I would learn in my spare time (if I had any) but I wouldn't go and pick up Visual Basic for the fun of it.
9 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 45.9 ms ] threadSoon, soon.
On the other hand, your point about revenue is still spot on. Fewer paying customers, less expectation of paying for apps, and the glaring fact that you simply can't buy Android apps in a large portion of the world. The first two are difficult (a culture shift is required, and that can't be passed down from Google in an OS update), but the third is perhaps fixable. The issues with iOS aren't likely to change, because that's Apple's culture.
I don't know about RIM, and "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent".