Android Outsells iPhones, Opens Processor Market.

No wonder Steve Jobs is getting shirty about Android. Phones using the upstart OS are outselling the iPhone, according to US market research firm NPD Group.

NPD reports that, based on unit sales in Q1 2010, Android phones had a US market share of 28%, ahead of the iPhone at 21%, and behind the Blackberry at 36%.

If phone manufacturers can make Android phones attractive enough to out-sell the iPhone, then Android promises a revolution.

Because, as a middleware OS, Android decouples the processor from the OS allowing any processor into cellphones.

So Atom and MIPS can get in there as easily as ARM – if they can compete on the properties of the silicon.

Although, now that Intel has produced its first ship targeted specifically a smartphones, it will probably use its notorious MDF to buy its first few design-ins.

The snag with Android might be Flash, which is said to be flaky on Android. Indeed, flaky Flash was blamed, earlier this week, for the non-appearance of ARM-based netbooks.

But software was ever thus. It takes time and several versions.

The stakes are enormous. On Tuesday, Nokia’s head of mobile phones, Rick Simonson, left after six months in the job. Anssi Vanjuki, who launched Nokia’s N95 in 2007 three months before the iPhone was launched, was brought back as boss of the mobile phones business.

So smartphone competition is hotting up, and Android’s time is coming, though whether either will bring down smartphone prices is debatable with the cost of of handset silicon being as low as it is.

According to NPD, smartphone prices averaged $151 in Q1.


Comments

10 comments

  1. My issue with searching for apps on the Droid comes when you try & search from a web browser rather than a mobile device. Android for example has a very limited approach through web browsers(hate that). I have come to the conclusion that if I want to search apps on my laptop, I should use other marketplaces. I found the Facebook, AIM, & more on a site called RawApps.com

  2. I can’t see fragmentation of Android platforms as much of a problem as long as they can all run the same applications. A variety of features and GUI styles will be an advantage — you can choose what suits your budget and needs/preferences. If you don’t care about a megapixel camera, buy a phone that hasn’t and save the money. If you need a built-in keyboard, buy one that has. And so on.
    As for ARM vs. Intel, Intel may right now have an edge in performance and ARM in power-use and price (and established presence in the mobile market), but ARM has another advantage that is seldom mentioned: Variety. You can get a large number of different ARM SoCs from different vendors, each packing its own extras, and if you don’t like any that is already out there, you make your own SoC around a licensed core (like Apple did with their A4). Intel makes only a handful of different Atom chips and if you don’t like any of those, tough luck.

  3. It is hardly a secret that MTK is working on an Android phone. So presumably we are only a few months away from serious single chip SOC Hardware support for 3G Android.
    Once the Shenzai get Android, it’ll be a real game changer. As Ian points out “third party” software development is always a numbers game. MTK / Shenzai will deliver much bigger numbers than Apple and RIM combined.
    Personally I don’t think Intel has a chance because MTK is way to strong in the cell phone chipset space. I understand they looked at Atom and were not impressed.

  4. I’m sure you’re right, Ian and FTM, Android is an attempt to horizontalise the mobile phone industry in the same way x86/Windows horizontalised the PC market. On the other hand, there’s Jobs trying to vertically integrate his iPhone business with everything from chips to software and maybe, in the future, final assembly, under Apple’s control. It’s going to be an interesting struggle, but the way to bet is usually on the big battalions.

  5. I assume, Scunnerous, judging by the number of mobile OSes which Intel has a hand in, that Intel is making sure it gets Atom cell-phone design-ins for every Atom/OS combination you can shake a stick at. A kind of carpet bombing approach.

  6. The differentiation problem referred to by FTM is really a problem for the phone manufacturers and suppliers, not the consumer.
    It puts smartphones into the same commodity status as PCs; cheap as chips because of competition from lots of suppliers, no lock-in to hardware or software, you buy exactly what you want from who you want and run whatever software you want on it, lots of which is free.
    The alternative is the Apple/Blackberry model; one supplier of hardware and software, locked in, restricted/controlled access to software.
    From the consumer’s point of view (price, number sold, flexibility) which is more of a success, the PC or the Mac?
    (of course some people prefer the Mac, but they’re a small but vocal minority)
    From the manufacturers point of view the answer is the opposite — Apple make *much* more money selling hardware and software than PC suppliers.
    Ian

  7. If Intel bites on Android with MDFs then, where would that leave Nokia and Meego, I wonder?

  8. Sure Android brings several goodies – including relatively easy migration to other (non Arm) chips.
    But Android is posing a big problem to all it’s adopters. All these android phones look and feel quite a bit the same ! So, why would one buy a HTC and not a Droid or a Sammy or a Nexus? In their attempts to differentiate from each other, the brands are likely to fragment the android, not unlike the many unixes that lived their separate lives sometime ago.
    Google of course will try to herd the sheep, but lacking a clear business control, chances of organic evolution are high.
    Meanwhile, smarter upstarts can try their luck. In the meantime, Blackberry and Apple for sure will not keep busy twiddling their thumbs.

  9. Sorry M, it was 2007. My God it seems so much longer! Thanks for pointing that out, I have changed the text.

  10. “Anssi Vanjuki, who launched Nokia’s N95 in 1997 three months before the iPhone was launched”
    So the iPhone was launched in 1997?

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