Droid Becomes Fastest-Selling Android Phone to Date?
The Motorola Droid is the newest smartphone on the market to compete for the iPhone's crown. Released by Verizon Wireless on November 6th, the Droid's advertising campaign has been a full-frontal attack on the popular Apple smartphone with a heavy focus on what the iPhone doesn't do. "iDon't run simultaneous apps, iDon't have a real keyboard, iDon't take 5-megapixel pictures," taunts Verizon's Droid ad.
But did the message get through to potential phone buyers? It appears that it did...at least according to mobile analytics firm Flurry. In their latest report, the company found that the Droid is now the fastest-selling Android phone to date, beating the sales of the myTouch 3G by more than four times.
Droid Sales Look Good
Flurry's analytics service monitors over 10,000 mobile applications on both the iPhone and Android, or approximately two out of every three iPhone and Android handsets on the market. While obviously this isn't a look at the mobile ecosystem as a whole, it's a big enough slice to form some initial conclusions about the popularity of the latest mobile device to run Android, Google's mobile operating system.
By monitoring the new Android devices on Flurry's system, the company estimated the first-week sales for the Droid handsets as compared with both the myTouch 3G and Apple's iPhone 3GS. Although the iPhone still outsold the Droid within its first week, Flurry notes that the iPhone simultaneously launched in 8 countries worldwide while the Droid only launched in the U.S.
It's also important to note that the iPhone 3GS was just the latest model of the iPhone to arrive on the market, it is not the original device. Prior to the 3GS, the iPhone had two previous versions, the second which finally allowed for 3G cellular access and GPS capabilities. This update made the iPhone 3G a hugely popular upgrade and the company sold 1 million or so units on their opening weekend. Comparing the third generation iPhone to the first version of the Droid isn't a true "apples to apples" comparison, but on the other hand, the comparison of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Droid is.
According to Flurry, Droid is dramatically outselling the myTouch 3G based on first week sales. That may say something about the quality of the Droid's hardware, the impact of a good marketing campaign or perhaps even people's frustrations with the iPhone's limitations. Or maybe a little of each. Then again, Verizon has nearly triple the number of subscribers as T-Mobile, so they already have a head start.
The Growing Power of Android
In the end, while we can't take any of these numbers to the bank, what we can learn is that the Android OS is making serious headway in the smartphone market. Although no one Android phone on its own may beat the iPhone, as more and more "worthy competitors" launch on numerous hardware platforms, the Android OS's install base may eventually catch up to that of the iPhone's.
In any event, that's what Google believes. In a recent earnings call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proclaimed that "Android adoption is about to explode," citing 12 Android phones on 32 carriers in 26 countries. Research firm Gartner predicts that the Android OS may end up ranking second worldwide by 2012. However, if more of the Android launches prove to be as successful as it appears the Droid's may be, Android may move up the charts even faster than predicted. Of course, who ends up on top all depends on Apple's next move. If the company decides to launch their phone on more carriers, all bets are off. If that's the case, Apple's market share could double, says Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Android would be left far behind. "Android is "backed by the power of Google's search engine," said Huberty. "Google's other up-and-coming consumer and enterprise products should make [Android] a dominant platform."
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I do have to say... Droid has had some extremely cool TV spots.
I've been a little dis-appointed lately with my iPhone and some of the things I can't do... too bad the cost of switching platforms is a little too prohibitive at this point to make the change.
Apple is already deliberately leaking rumors about the iPhone's imminent availability on Verizon in order to stall the adoption of the Droid. I had considered switching to Verizon because of some service issues but did not want to give up my iPhone and apps like NeuroMobile. I decided not to switch because of the rumors that I will be able to use my iPhone on the Verizon network.
Old news.
*NONE* of the Droid adds are being directed at the iphone anymore. Verizon quickly stopped attacking the iphone. All their ads now ONLY target AT&T.
I wonder what would cause the change? Maybe Verizon wants to stay on good terms with Apple? Maybe Verizon's own CEO said even *HE* likes the iphone and wants a Verizon version.
being part of that 250,000 - I'm very happy with the droid. I've found an app to do everything I have tried to do so far that the phone won't do on its own.
Sure there are some glitches in some of the features, but for a 1st generation device, its nothing more than what goes on with every 1st generation.
Compare DROID ads, which only suggest that you might want to take a look, with iPhone ads which show actual phone use.
Questions for Droid owners: How do I manage media on the Droid? How do I backup the content I purchase on the Droid? When Google updates Droid (patch, new features etc) to whom do I go for the update, handset vendor or Verizon?
Posted by: islandinthenet.com
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November 16, 2009 9:48 AM
iPhone 3Gs was just a new model, not a new phone, but the droid was a new "model" of android phone too. There were the Hero before.
We’re tracking droid marketshare via web browsing from the 150,000 sites we track on Clicky. So far the Droid has captured ~3% mobile browser marketshare, which is pretty good. Android has about 9% total so the Droid is already 1/3 of that, and climbing.
http://getclicky.com/droid
How is Installed Base calculated? Does this account for phones that are not active? e.g. 1st and 2nd gen iPhones that are on eBay and not in actual use? In other words, Sales numbers and not active users. I'm in no way contesting that with 27 million iPhones that these after market phones will be more than a hill of beans, but I was just curious.
I like the metric for browser use (clicks)... this can show the overall landscape for devices since most people would use their devices for web access. However this is not perfect since you would assume people are all going to the same site(s). In this case Google or some search provider probably would have the most accurate data.
And far less perfect is some articles attempts at calculating the number of users based on App downloads of a particular app. This is too speculative for my taste.
The closest to pure information lies with the carriers, and I'm sure they guard this stuff pretty closely. Can someone explain to me exactly why?
To islandinthenet.com
>>Questions for Droid owners: How do I manage media on the Droid?
There are many apps in Android Market. it is not the "iTunes" only device.
>>How do I backup the content I purchase on the Droid?
If you purchase any app you can re-download the app without paying anytime, in any android phone. what u need is just a gmail account. For backup? trust me thats the best part of android. you don't need to sync with your PC everytime u change your phone. just login to your google account, u'll get back all contacts, calendar-events/reminders and other google features.
>>When Google updates Droid (patch, new features etc) to whom do I go for the update, handset vendor or Verizon?
for this you have to wait till the next update. for my handset (HTC Magic) i have to depend on HTC Australia not the operator (3 Hutchison)
the main power of Android is the exclusive integrated Google services. Apple will never be able to compete with so many services (3D Warehouse, AdWords, Alert, Android Market Publisher Site, Android Scripting Environment, App Engine, Audio Indexing, Base, Blogger, Book Search, Bookmarks, Calendar, Checkout, Chrome, ChromeOS, City Tours, Code Search, Contacts, Dashboard, Docs, Earth, Fast Flip, FeedBurner, Fetch as Googlebot, Finance, Flu Trends, Friend Connect, Fusion Tables, Gizmo5, Gmail, Google Sync, Groups, Health, IGoogle, Images, In Quotes, Listen, Local Business Center, Maps, Merchant Center, Mobile, Moderator, My Tracks, MyMap Editor, News, News Timeline, Notebook, O3D for Chrome, Orkut, Page Creator, Picasa Web Albums, Places Directory, Positi, Profile, Reader, Script Converter, Sketch, Sets, Similar Images, Sites, Skymap, Social Search, Squared, Subscribed Links, Talk, Tasks, Toolbar Sync, Trends, Video, Voice, Wave, Web History, Webmaster Tools, Website Optimizer, YouTube). Some of them are for desktop only, not for mobile. Many of them are not available for Android yet. But Google is moving too fast for Android based services. Some of these services are for Business purpose, some of them are for personal use. Even Google have products for Educational institute (both for academic staff and students). In the long run (may be in three years) IPhone will be deep trouble because of the Google based services. Android is not just a Mobile Phone.
I am thinking about getting the droid. I am quite happy with Verizon, I have been a VIP for years. I just want to wait until it is out a little bit as I got burned with the Voyager when it first came out and was the hottest phone and I ended up having lots of problems. I know a couple of people who originally thought about leaving Verizon for the iphone (before the droid) I told them they were crazy to leave Verizon for AT&T but that is my opinion.
I would say probably by January I will get the droid.
It's not completely fair to compare the Droid to HTC's myTouch 3G (ie, Magic). Together with HTC's Dream (the first commercial Android phone AFAIK), the Magic was a pioneer, released at a time when Android was not known to the vast majority of people. By the time Droid came out, many more people knew about the Android OS for mobile phones. HTC is to be commended for taking that very first brave step.
Clarification: I didn't know the Magic was only released in August in the USA.
High Tech Computer (HTC), which developed the first smartphone based on Google's Android mobile operating system, saw revenue decline in the third quarter due to increased competition and weak sales in Europe. The Eris will have the Android OS in common, and little else. The idea is to boost sales for smartphones, as fewer people can justify same day loans for something you really don't need these days.
It seems odd to put the Iphone with the two droids since its already quite established and more developed, the sales figures are all par for what would be expected.
The droid pie is getting sliced into thinner and thinner slivers. Will poor Motorola be able to surve with a 3% market share? Fortunately, Sanjay has a 30 million dollar failure bonus.