Search giant Google has beat Apple’s iPhone with its mobile OS platform grabbing the number two spot in the US market.
Google’s Android accounted for 28 per cent of smartphones sold in the first quarter according to the consumer market research company-NPD Group. This compared with 21 per cent for the iPhone, while the RIM Blackberry is still at the top with 36 per cent.
The growth of the smart phone market has been dramatic over the past few years. Whilst originally the province of business executives who wished to be in touch with online news providers or with their email on the move, as prices have come down huge numbers of the public have taken them up. This surge in audience has led to a new emphasis on content generation for mobile devices in online media, such as Google’s implementation of “AdWords for mobiles” – a mobile interface for its popular search engine marketing platform as well as the option to target PPC campaigns at smartphone devices.
With Google’s Android leaving the iPhone behind in the first quarterly sales, NPD says in the report released yesterday, that the Android has shaken up the mobile phone market. NPD Group executive director Ross Rubin said: “As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share.”
Android’s growth has been boosted by intensive marketing by the carrier Verizon Wireless, but Google’s operating system only controls 9 per cent of the US market, compared to the iPhone’s 25.4 per cent. The US smart phone market is currently controlled by four carriers AT&T which have 32 per cent, Verizon Wireless with 30 per cent, T-Mobile with 17 per cent and Sprint with 15 per cent.
Mr Rubin continued: “Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data plan options to attract more customers in the future.”
The report comes just more than a month after Forbes said in March that BlackBerry’s lead over iPhone is shrinking and it will overtake the Canadian icon by early next year. Forbes had also said that the “end of AT&T exclusivity will give Apple’s iPhone wider distribution in the US compared to BlackBerry distribution.”
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