BREAKING..iPhone now officially the underdog down under
by J. Angelo Racoma on Dec 12, 2012 with 13 Comments
androidauthority.com
Android is on a roll. Recent sales figures indicate that Android is becoming more and more dominant in terms of sales and activations. According to recent IDC figures, Android owned 75% of the market in the third quarter of 2012, with Apple taking a distant second spot at 14.9%. Android shipment growth also almost doubled, with a 91% growth, compared with Apple’s 57% for the iPhone.
In some markets, though, Android is just warming up. In Australia, for instance, Android smartphones have only started overtaking the iPhone. This year so far, 67% of smartphones sold down under were Android devices. Summing up total smartphone usage in the country, Android has overtaken the iPhone, with a 44% market share, versus the iPhone’s 43%, as reported by Australian market research firm Telsyte.
Now this might be a marginal advantage, but given Android’s trajectory, it’s likely that Google’s mobile platform will retain its lead moving forward. However, it’s not going to be as simple for Android device manufacturers. Australian carriers are reportedly leaning more toward the iPhone, given that research has shown that iPhone users are more likely to extend their contracts with carriers.
Of course, another concern here will be numbers. Australia is a big country with a small population of just about 22.6 million. Of these, there are 10 million smartphone users (or smartphones). That’s smaller than California (37 million) or Texas (25.7 million). And it’s nowhere near the population of India (1.2 billion) or China (1.3 billion). With these figures, any advantage by either platform is not likely to make a dent in the greater scheme of things.
But still it’s good to see Android jumping past its biggest competitor in terms of market share. That’s only one side of the coin, though, as Android tablets still have a long way to go before overtaking the iPad in worldwide sales and usage.
SOURCES AUSDROID
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