Is Android Only Surging Because Apple Is Letting It?

Re:Is Android Only Surging Because Apple Is Letting It? by happybuy on Sunday September 05, 2010 @11:38PM (#1665780)

I think evidence points to this being true. For instance, in Australia - a technically advanced market where the iPhone is available on every major wireless carrier - the carrier exclusivity doesn't warp market share in Androids favour:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/surging-iphone...

As of May 2010, Android is at 2.1% smartphone market share, the iPhone is at 40.3% smartphone market share.

In the US, the iPhone's AT&T exclusivity gives Android protection from true competition. When the customer can select a phone on its own merits and not due to network availability I'm sure that the market share picture may be different.

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Re:Is Android Only Surging Because Apple Is Letting It? by Daishiman on Monday September 06, 2010 @12:52AM (#1665901)

That is highly dependent on the availability of handsets and plans, so there's never a true disconnect between OS, handset, and plans.

In South America, Motorola pushed the Milestone model, hard, and it's just as if not more popular than the iPhone, but both are dwarfed by Blackberry, and the Milestone is the only real high-end Android device available. If the Nexus One or Galaxy S were for sale the numbers would be very different.

Australia, just like many other countries, has fairly hefty import tariffs on high-tech goods, so the country of origin of different devices has a nontrivial influence on handset availability, and thus general popularity of each platform.

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Re:Is Android Only Surging Because Apple Is Letting It? by AndrewDucker on Monday September 06, 2010 @05:28AM (#1666322)

In the UK it's just under 20% for Android: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/apr/30/android-goo... with iPhone available on all carriers.

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