Last September, Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously called out Google for including upgrades in the search company’s ever-increasing count of Android activations, touting 230,000 iOS activations per day at that time (not including upgrades). What will Jobs make of Google’s latest claim over over 500,000 activations per day?
Engadget is reporting that Google Android head honcho Andy Rubin has taken to Twitter to boast about the mobile platform’s latest accomplishment. After touting 300,000 activations per day back in December, Rubin claims there are now “over 500,000” devices having the switch flipped on daily.
“There are now over 500,000 Android devices activated every day, and it’s growing at 4.4 percent w/w,” Rubin boasted on Twitter early Tuesday morning.
Engadget claims the growth spurt is a 60 percent increase “in just over seven months,” which appears to cement recent rumors that Android is, in fact, outpacing iOS in terms of mobile domination. As the website jokingly notes, if Android continues growing at 4.4 percent week over week, “there will be more Android phones than people in just a few short years.”
While we’re certainly in no position to distrust Rubin’s numbers, there’s just one thing that keeps gnawing at us: Where are all of these Android devices? Unless the people using them are all housebound hermits, we certainly don’t see a veritable Android invasion in our daily travels. Quite the contrary -- we’re more likely to randomly spot iOS devices or even BlackBerry smartphones, but maybe we just live sheltered lives. So where are these half a million devices being activated each day?
In any event, it’s important to note that Apple has had success with basically a single model of each device each year, while Android devices number in the hundreds and counting. If Cupertino’s boffo financial success looks like failure to Google, Apple clearly has a problem moving forward if it hopes to avoid a repeat of the Mac vs. Windows era.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Artwork by Fraser Ntukula)
jtlin
June 28, 2011 at 11:57pm
Android is the OS backbone of knock off iPhone, Nokia, Soner , Thousands of local brands.
New trend which push the activation higher is hundred if not thousands local chinese tablets and ebook reader , mp4 players etc .
both stream knock off products activated by the seller , and sit in the shops shelf, warehouse and customers hand , mostly in China market ...thanks for free OS ..
Dark Apple
June 28, 2011 at 2:46pm
Whether these numbers are true or not of course so many androids are being sold when you have so many versions starting from free pre paid you can buy in a supermarket next to the chips.
But there is a difference between quantity and quality. And Android definitely is not quality.
For Android to compete with iPhone they have to add a bunch of almost useless features that nobody will ever use. And like mentioned before need to come out with a new version every month.
HarmonicHealer
June 28, 2011 at 11:11am
There are obviously a lot of android phones out there. But... I was in Yosemite Valley yesterday at a bus shuttle stop where a gentleman asked if anyone had lost a cell phone. All answers were negative until a fellow said, "Just a minute - what kind of phone is it? If it's an iPhone, then I lost it!"
Numbers don't tell the whole story!
jrbookwalter
June 28, 2011 at 8:55am
Actually, being a gadget hound by nature, I tend to pay closer attention to the devices I see in use around me. As jrstinkfish mentions, it's an unscientific process to be sure, but more often than not I can spot an Android device when I see one.
I've actually owned 5 Android devices myself -- an Archos 5 and 101, Virgin Mobile's Samsung Intercept and both an Acer Iconia Tab and Asus Eee Pad Transformer. Aside from the Asus tablet, they've all been returned (the A5 was sold on eBay), which does make me wonder how many folks buy, activate and liquidate... although that's not unique to Android.
JRB
jrstinkfish
June 28, 2011 at 9:07am
Could be. One of the side-effects of having so many choices on Android is the fact that new (and better) phones seem to appear every month, whereas with the iPhone you're limited to one release a year. Some people discard their "old" phone for the latest and greatest, which is easier to do with Android if you've got enough disposable income.
I'm severely tempted by the Evo 3D, but my original launch-day Evo is still going strong, so I'm gonna hang on to it a while longer (ROM development makes it feel new on a regular basis anyway). BTW, I also have a Transformer (also launch-day! I'm a sucker for new tech), wonderful and sometimes frustrating piece of kit. Fits my life perfectly between my Macbook Pro and Evo.
jrbookwalter
June 28, 2011 at 9:27am
Very interesting point re: device turnover. I've had every iPhone and every iPad, but we're only talking about 6 models over 4+ years -- how many Android devices have been released during that time by comparison? (Answer: Hundreds!) Apple will likely never compete on that level, and despite all the media hype about how Android is taking over the world, I think Apple is holding their own quite well for now. ;-)
JRB
jrstinkfish
June 28, 2011 at 8:26am
You probably only see Apple phones because that's what you're used to seeing. Android phones, for better or worse, come in so many different styles that you can't really glance at one in passing and know it's an Android phone. The main reason Android is so popular is because of all those choices, so I'm not surprised that it's spreading so quickly. Fragmentation schmagmentation, I want a 4" screen with a 5-row keyboard ... no wait, I want 3D and HDMI-out ... no wait, I want dual screens that flip out into a mini-tablet (terrible phone, btw).
Among my friends and acquaintances who have smartphones, if I had to put a number on it, I'd say 2/3 of them have Android phones. Here at work the ratio is even bigger towards Android, but I work around a bunch of nerds so that is to be expected :) One guy here has a WP7 phone, but he's an older gent.
But hey, I'm sure people here have the exact opposite experience, which is why you can't refute Google's claims based on anecdotal evidence.
CCardarelli
June 28, 2011 at 8:10am
I can only comment from my personal perspective: my mother and grandmother have iPhones, and everyone else in the extended family who has a smartphone has an Android phone. This largely has to do with a lot of Verizon users from before 2011.
Josh S
June 28, 2011 at 8:06am
My small office has 6 smartphone users - we are split 50/50 iPhone/Android.
Geoduck
June 28, 2011 at 7:11am
Where are all the Android devices?
That's a damn good question. Everyone I know is getting an iPhone or BlackBerry, and one person with a WinPhone 7 device. Literally the only Android phone I know of is my brother who lives a thousand miles away. He has an original Droid and just got an iPhone for his wife. I've seen Android phones in the stores but never anyone using one.
Is it possible that Android is being used for non-SmartPhones? Could this basic LG phone I have be powered by Android and I don't know it?
