Is It Time To Conclude That Android Gadgets Are Bought By People Who Don't Actually Do Anything With Them?
Henry Blodget | Nov. 25, 2012, 9:55 PM | 2,346 | 13
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For the last couple of years, sales of Android-based smartphones have been smoking every other kind of smartphone, including the iPhone.
Android phones now account for nearly 75% of the global smartphone market. The next closest competitor is iPhones, which have about 15% of the market.
In the U.S., Android is clubbing iPhone 53% to 34%.
Given such a disparity in phone sales and usage, you would think that things people do with smartphones--smartphone-based activities--would be equally dominated by Android.
But they aren't.
They're not even equal.
In fact, iPhone users completely dominate Internet-based smartphone activities.
A recent survey of mobile web usage found that a staggering 60% of mobile web visits came from iOS devices, while only 20% came from Android.
A study IBM did of Black Friday online sales showed much the same thing--except that it was even more skewed.
iOS (iPads and iPhones) accounted for nearly 20% of Black Friday sales.
Android devices, meanwhile, accounted for only 5.5%.
What's up with that?
Are Android devices mostly used by digitally incurious people who don't do anything with them?
Are Android devices mostly owned by people who don't shop online?
Analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco put together an excellent chart that shows the full findings from the IBM Black Friday report. As you'll see, despite Android phones outselling iPhones and Android-based tablets now grabbing a significant chunk of the tablet market, the percentage of Black Friday activity on these Android gadgets is pathetic. (Click for larger).
Horace Dediu, Asymco, IBM
It seems like something is just fundamentally wrong with the Android platform, at least when it comes to interactive engagement by Android users. This has big implications for app makers, media companies, advertisers, and commerce companies, so it's time we got to the bottom of what's going on here. Please send any interesting info our way... (hblodget@businessinsider.com andjyarow@businessinsider.com).
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