Numbers always speak for themselves - or do they? Comscore released a report yesterday showing the changes in smartphone platform users between May 1st and July 31st. While this represents a relatively small time frame, it does add to the mounting evidence that Android is poised to live up to recent projections.
However, what does this really mean for the other platforms? Reports are cropping up everywhere (just search "Android" on Google News) claiming that this is further proof that Android is eating away at Apple and RIM, and that Android is hammering the nails into the iOS coffin. While I agree with that concept to a certain extent, I don't think the Comscore report is necessarily enough to bolster that idea, and I believe some "iPhone-killing" restraint is necessary.
Let's get the two easy ones out of the way. Palm being frozen - no big surprise, given what they have gone through over the past year. Microsoft - also not a big surprise given that Windows Phone 7 will supposedly be appearing on phones soon (November?), and WM 6.5 has not exactly been a flagship OS for Microsoft.
RIM - this one is slightly more complicated, but not much. RIM has had a stronghold on the corporate world for some time now, while gradually losing overall market share. Google and Apple want to take a larger bite out of the corporate sector, and with recent security additions on both Android and iOS, they are starting to do just that. So, all in all, a drop in RIM isn't a huge surprise either.
And that brings us to Apple - the "arch rival" of Android. To the Android fanbois, this report probably had a heavenly light shining on it with a hallelujah chorus playing in the background. And, again, don't take this the wrong way - a 5% gain for Android is very strong, and great news for Android enthusiasts. However, Jonny Evans' blog, over at Computerworld, [disclaimer: a self proclaimed Apple-holic] brings up some interesting points that I think might have some clout. He points out that while the iPhone 4 was released during this time, it sold out immediately, and has been in extremely limited supply ever since. Since iOS is dependent on a single phone, it it likely affected to a greater extent by that limited supply. Combine that with the fact that hardly anybody was going to purchase a new iPhone 3Gs, knowing the 4 was out, and you can make a decent case for why Apple's numbers were down - mostly independent of Android.
I'm all for Android becoming the dominant player we would like it to become, we just need to keep a balanced perspective in the process.
Sources:
comScore Reports July 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share - comScore, Inc
Gartner Says Android to Become No. 2 Worldwide Mobile Operating System in 2010 and Challenge Symbian for No. 1 Position by 2014
RIM Duels With Droid - WSJ.com
iPhone-killing Android reports are 'exaggerated' - Computerworld Blogs
