Android now the #2 OS

[Phokus]

http://www.androidcentral.com/android-grows-22-percent-year-over-year-third-quarter-gartner-says

That's fantastic and really amazing how far android has come through in such a short term.

I'm kinda confused by Symbian though, i don't know anyone with a Symbian device. Is it really popular in Europe or something?

 

[zerocool84]

http://www.androidcentral.com/android-grows-22-percent-year-over-year-third-quarter-gartner-says

That's fantastic and really amazing how far android has come through in such a short term.

I'm kinda confused by Symbian though, i don't know anyone with a Symbian device. Is it really popular in Europe or something?

I owned a Symbian Nokia phone before my Android phone. There's tons of Symbian phones out there worldwide but the thing with Symbian is that just because it has Symbian on it, it doesn't make it a smartphone.

Also you didn't mention iOS being number 3. Both surpassed RIM and still have room to grow.

 

[OS]

RIMM prob only holding on through enterprise/biz stuff,
if android or apple crack that market..

 

[Bateluer]

March to world domination continues.

 

[Anonemous]

Can't believe iOS went down. Kinda scary to see Android jump from 3.5% to 25.5% jumping over RIM and Apple.

 

[rudeguy]

Can't believe iOS went down. Kinda scary to see Android jump from 3.5% to 25.5% jumping over RIM and Apple.

Its because they give it away for free.


Not really...but I figured we'd get that out there before this thread moved too far along.

 

[MrX8503]

I think we'll get a real sense of competition when iOS and WP7 is on all carriers.

 

[MichaelHudson]

RIMM prob only holding on through enterprise/biz stuff,
if android or apple crack that market..

I read an article the other day that both Bank of America and Citibank are testing the iPhone right now. I also saw that Dell is using the WM7 for employees instead of Blackberry.

 

[TheStu]

Can't believe iOS went down. Kinda scary to see Android jump from 3.5% to 25.5% jumping over RIM and Apple.

Strikes me as totally believable actually. The iPhone has been out longer sure, but it is a couple of devices on a smaller (I think) number of carriers overall. There are at least half a dozen different Android phones per carrier just in the US let alone elsewhere.

 

[zerocool84]

Strikes me as totally believable actually. The iPhone has been out longer sure, but it is a couple of devices on a smaller (I think) number of carriers overall. There are at least half a dozen different Android phones per carrier just in the US let alone elsewhere.

Well people forget the iPhone isn't carrier locked everywhere.

 

[Oyeve]

Strikes me as totally believable actually. The iPhone has been out longer sure, but it is a couple of devices on a smaller (I think) number of carriers overall. There are at least half a dozen different Android phones per carrier just in the US let alone elsewhere.

I agree with this. Only Apple make the iphone. All carriers and manufacturers make android phones. And that is a LOT of phones. If apple would let other phone makers utilize ios it would be a different story. Its pretty much that same as PC vs apple. PC is NOT a company but apple is. Andoid is open so anyone can make an android phone. Would be interesting is apple ever let someone else make an ios phone.

 

[zoiks]

Would be interesting is apple ever let someone else make an ios phone.

That'll be the day. That day almost came back in history when a 3rd party company started making Apple macs and Apple put an end to that later on.

 

[Oyeve]

That'll be the day. That day almost came back in history when a 3rd party company started making Apple macs and Apple put an end to that later on.

Yeah, I bought one. I think it was called Laser, or star or something like that.

 

[vshah]

Yeah, I bought one. I think it was called Laser, or star or something like that.

psystar

 

[Pliablemoose]

We've only started to see the inexpensive Android phones hit the retail channel recently as well, you haven't seen anything yet...

I posted over a year ago IIRC about cheap Android phones from China...

LULZ, found the thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=329963&highlight=chinese+android

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yeah, I bought one. I think it was called Laser, or star or something like that.

Daystar?

Psystar only made unauthorized clones, and they didn't exactly last long. I don't even know if they ended up delivering machines to customers. Daystar (along with Radius, Power Computing, and others) made authorized Mac clones, third-party PCs running Mac OS with Apple's blessing. Apple put a stop to that when they realized people weren't buying Apple's underpowered and overpriced offerings.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Psystar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psystar_Corporation

 

[Stang289]

Daystar?

Psystar only made unauthorized clones, and they didn't exactly last long. I don't even know if they ended up delivering machines to customers. Daystar (along with Radius, Power Computing, and others) made authorized Mac clones, third-party PCs running Mac OS with Apple's blessing. Apple put a stop to that when they realized people weren't buying Apple's underpowered and overpriced offerings.

Apple was getting a bad rep for some poorly built third-party PCs. The same way Microsoft gets a bad rep when third-party hardware manufacturers put out crappy drivers.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I used quite a few clone Macs back in the day. They were poor in comparison to the real thing, I totally understand why the practice was halted. I used UMAX clones.

 

[zerocool84]

Would be interesting is apple ever let someone else make an ios phone.

Never gonna happen. They'd be letting go the only advantage they have in any sector of their businesses. Apple would never let any other company control any aspect of any of their products. They'd have the exact same problems any other company does if they did. Apple's advantage is controlling every single aspect of their devices. Take that away and they have nothing.

 

[akugami]

I owned a Symbian Nokia phone before my Android phone. There's tons of Symbian phones out there worldwide but the thing with Symbian is that just because it has Symbian on it, it doesn't make it a smartphone.

Also you didn't mention iOS being number 3. Both surpassed RIM and still have room to grow.

I agree with the Symbian comment 100%. I have owned various Nokia phones over the years with many of them using Symbian prior to moving to an iPhone. The thing is just because it's using Symbian and labeled as a smartphone doesn't make it a modern smartphone. The device can be severely limited to the point of being useless when we consider what a smartphone means today.

I know Nokia was still putting out the line of how they are the #1 in terms of smartphone share recently but many of the Symbian phones can only be loosely defined as smartphones. I actually feel that Nokia is in a weaker position than RIM is at this point.

Yes, Nokia is still the #1 cell phone OEM and they did increase number of units sold (as did everyone else) but it's been losing market share at an alarming rate. Nokia is not going anywhere soon but it's troubling for them that they still don't have a real answer to iOS and Android out on the market yet.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Yes, Nokia is still the #1 cell phone OEM and they did increase number of units sold (as did everyone else) but it's been losing market share at an alarming rate. Nokia is not going anywhere soon but it's troubling for them that they still don't have a real answer to iOS and Android out on the market yet.

I though they were shipping MeeGo based devices? That's certainly comparable to Android, at the least, I would expect?

 

[WelshBloke]

Apple was getting a bad rep for some poorly built third-party PCs. The same way Microsoft gets a bad rep when third-party hardware manufacturers put out crappy drivers.

It was more that Apple were losing sales to the clones as I remember it.

The hardware was the same so I don't see why the drivers would come into it.

 

[Nebor]

Symbian is on a lot of dumbphones....

 

[akugami]

I though they were shipping MeeGo based devices? That's certainly comparable to Android, at the least, I would expect?

Last I heard, Meego phones weren't coming out until 2011. Much like MS's Windows Phone 7 this is a complete "reboot" of Nokia's smart phone base and while Nokia has great brand recognition, it's still going to have a tough time beating out Android which I feel will be the undisputed #1 in a year or two. Symbian had its chance and Nokia screwed it up.