It’s been a long time coming, but Android is now officially the most popular smartphone operating system in the United States. In the last three months of 2010 about 26% of smartphone users in the U.S. said their primary phone had Android on it, according to a new survey by the technology-tracking firm comScore Inc. This is in comparison to 25% of users who said they were using Apple’s iPhone. This is encouraging news for Google as Android’s creator. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. still holds the first place spot, however, although its user base fell from 33.5% to 37.6% in August.
While the survey suggests the Android operating system’s increasing popularity over Apple’s iPhone, these statistics only tell a portion of the overall story. The iPhone system is only available on Apple devices, whereas Android is available across a variety of different mobile devices, and even on other non-mobile gadgets. As a consequence, products are far easier to develop for the iPhone than for the myriad of different devices that run the Android operating system.
These statistics also don’t account for the fact that the iPhone will be moving to Verizon Wireless later this year, in addition to its current exclusive contract with AT&T. As it opens itself up to another large potential user base, this could give Apple a leg-up the next time a similar survey is completed. One thing’s for certain: Apple seems eager and willing to give Google’s Android system a run for its money in 2011.
