Like the title The latest smartphone OS market share report is out from Gartner for Q3 2010, and it is pretty much very good news for all Android fans out there. Android captured the second-highest global market share of all smartphone operating systems in the Q3 2010. This is a huge improvement over the Q1 2010 report from Nielsen. Android market share grew from 3.5-percent in Q3 2009 to 25.5-percent in 2010. In the same period, Symbian – which keeps the top spot – dropped from 44.6 to 36.6 percent, while Apple’s iOS fell from 17.1 to 16.7 percent.
Sales of devices running all three platforms were up with total worldwide smartphone sales in the three month period amounting to around 81 million devices, which is almost double the figure from a year ago.
Android phones have taken off in part because they cater for different consumer segments, with offerings of high-end phones like the Galaxy S and lower-priced models from ZTE. Google is also trying to create and sustain hype in the mobile OS by quickly releasing updates, with each one bringing in new features, some innovation, and a bit of polish to the operating system.
Though Apple's global smartphone market share dipped slightly in the third quarter to 16.7 percent from 17.1 percent last year, the company did well thanks to the debut of the iPhone 4 and Apple actually shot past that of Research In Motion to move up to 4th place.
Samsung enjoyed a strong quarter even though its mobile phone market share dropped a few percentage points. Mobile phone sales hit 71.7 million units, up 18.2 percent from last year's third quarter. With its smartphone market share alone reaching 10 percent, Samsung sold 6.6 million Android phones, making it the top Android seller for the quarter. This proves the appeal of the Galaxy S series in the eyes of the consumer and it should be a good year for Samsung.
Now, before we lost track of why Android is important for Google, we believe it is time for us to do a quick recap of just how Google can earn from the popularity of Android.
Back in July 2010, Google CEO Eric Schmidt had this to say about Android's success: "Android is much bigger than I could ever have hoped for. Android can become a hugely profitable business for us. Search on mobile will eventually exceed that of PCs … so, eventually, mobile will be a very, very strong revenue stream in comparison to PCs."
Although handphone manufacturers do not need to pay Google any money for the ability to use its operating system, Google does get a cut from every Android Market app sale, by selling ads on the platform, and striking deals with other content providers that desire to get stronger presence on Android.
In a recent earnings call, Google has mentioned that it expects Android revenue to reach 1 billion over the next year. That's on top of the money it already earns through ads it powers on every other mobile platform. That’s a very ambitious sales goal but it proves just how much focus and attention Google felt they should be putting into Android to justify this target.
And finally, how do we know Google is really making money? Just look at this headline from AsiaOne in a news article dated 11th Nov 2010 – “Google gives employees a surprise 10 per cent raise”
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