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Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner

By | September 10, 2010, 6:35am PDT

Gartner is projecting that Android will catch Symbian as the top global mobile operating system by 2014.

The predictions come as Nokia just named former Microsoft exec Stephen Elop as CEO. Part of Elop’s job will be to make sure Nokia’s Symbian OS doesn’t lose its market share lead over the next four years.

By 2014, Gartner argues that Symbian’s market share will be 30.2 percent in 2014 with Android at 29.6 percent. That’s roughly a statistical tie. Gartner also has Research in Motion losing operating system market share with 11.7 percent share in 2014. Apple’s iOS will be No. 3 with 14.9 percent market share, roughly flat with 2009 levels. Apple’s iOS will have a peak market share of 17.1 percent in 2011.

Related: Android to control half of smartphone market, say analysts

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Topics

Operating System, Gartner Inc., Market Share, Symbian Inc., Symbian OS, Operating Systems, Software, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
samiup 10th Sep 2010
as things stand today, ANDROID's total take over of the world mobile OS market is just a matter of time, it has no serious challengers. that is a no-brainer.

iOS can stand a few more rounds because it is already has a huge install base, maybe WinMO can give some challenge by the end of this year because of no other reason than Microsoft putting all its corporate heavy weight behind it, but that would be it.

with the pace Google is developing ANDROID, everything will look like out of date poop next to ANDROID very soon.
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the state of android
banned from zdnet Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@samiup
let's have a look (some facts for a change)
- android has a much smaller selection of apps than ios (70.000 vs. 250.000)
- most of the apps are free, so the android app market isn't a good place for developers
- developers face additional hurdles as the android marketplace is very fragmented in hardware (esp. screen size) and os versions used
- android allows carriers to cripple devices with undeletable crapware, something that could slow adoption among users when other platforms (like ios or maybe windows phone) don't have that disadvantage
- android adoption in the us will slow down the moment the iphone is available at all 4 carriers
- half of the android handset makers (lg, motorola, sony ericcson) operate at a loss or hardly break even; only samsung and htc turn a profit from their smartphone operations

so, i would say, no, it's not a no-brainer that android will be market leader in os share. i don't say it won't happen, but it faces some obstacles. first one, some of the handset makers have to leave the game, if they don't turn a profit soon. android hasn't turned out to be a good business enviroment for hardware companies yet.

meanwhile apple has already 50% of ALL the profits of the WHOLE phone market (not only smartphones but all phones), probably having 75% of all profits in 2012.

android may turn out to be no 1 in os share, but it will continue to have a much weaker app market and business environment, degrading their partners to low margin players in a commodity market.

apple on the other hand will have a clearly differentiated product and will be hardware maker no 2 (after nokia) with the lionshare of the profits. which company would you like to be?
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Android only viable option, for now
guihombre 10th Sep 2010
A lot of what you say is true, yet look at it from the Handset makers point of view, they don't have the choice of iOS. So it's not even in their options list.

They have two options, Android, or their own OS (e.g. Symbian, bada, etc.).

And the carriers are the same, typically one carrier has the exclusive from Apple in their market, the others naturally will go for the next best competitor. Which looks like Android.

Yes Android apps suck for a developer, any good applications get copied into Google own apps (e.g. that Radar apps functionality got cloned into Googles), meanwhile the market is swamped with free sub grade copies. No opportunity to make money, but a lot of foolish people chasing gold mines.

Obviously that's not sustainable for app developers. But for now its the situation as it is.

So IMHO, Nokia need to nurture and recruit the best third party developers, they need to help them reach a wider audience, they need to build a core bundle of the best apps, and they need to offer that bundle to carriers. Because it's not the 100k apps that sell the phone, it's the bundle that comes in the box.

And Google, for all the crapiness of its interfaces, has the current best bundle. But it doesn't mean that it will have that in a a few years time.
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Playing loose & fast with the word "Facts" there...
DevJonny 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet

"android has a much smaller selection of apps than ios (70.000 vs. 250.000)"

As a quick search comes back with the the Android app market reaching at least 90,000 with predications of 100,000 in July (2 months ago). I don't know the actual number, but a FACT is that you pulled yours from nowhere recent.

"most of the apps are free, so the android app market isn't a good place for developers"

Evidence of the above? I've paid for a fair number of apps (including games) after using their Lite versions because they are good apps. So no FACTS there.

"evelopers face additional hurdles as the android marketplace is very fragmented in hardware (esp. screen size) and os versions used"

Proof of this? When I get updates for the apps I use the most common reason has been "Update for Android 2.2", and I'm running 1.6. So one version of the App for all OSs. Again you have not presented a FACT.

"android allows carriers to cripple devices with undeletable crapware, something that could slow adoption among users when other platforms (like ios or maybe windows phone) don't have that disadvantage"

Only in the USA, not true in other markets. So I will give you a FACT for that as this is the US Edition of ZDNet.

"android adoption in the us will slow down the moment the iphone is available at all 4 carriers"

This is an opinion not a FACT. Again this hasn't happened in other markets outside of the USA, especially in UK where the iPhone is available on all carriers.

"half of the android handset makers (lg, motorola, sony ericcson) operate at a loss or hardly break even; only samsung and htc turn a profit from their smartphone operations"

Is this a FACT, do you have proof? If so show it. I have no idea if you're right or wrong, but it looks like a wild claim rather than a FACT.

So before you tell us some FACTS, actually get the FACTS first.
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money
banned from zdnet 10th Sep 2010
@DevJonny

all numbers are q2 2010, in $

motorola mobile division: operating loss of 109 million
lg mobile division: loss of 101.2 million
sony ericsson: a tiny profit of 15,5 million
samsung mobile division: a profit of 533 million (but most of it through feature phones)
htc: a profit of 268 million

for reference apple had a an estimated iphone profit of around 2 bn in q2 2010. and the quarter in which apple's iphone sales are normally accelerating (after the yearly refresh) is in full swing.

for any reason i can't post the links to these numbers in this form. they get deleted every time i try. but you can easily find those numbers when you search for "lg mobile division loss q2 2010" or "htc profit q2 2010" etc.
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One thing I've noticed about Apple zealots
NonZealot Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet
which company would you like to be?

Apple zealots have an unhealthy emotional attachment to the multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year, mega-corporation that happens to make their bulk consumer goods. They entertain thoughts of actually being Apple so they say silly things like which company would you like to be? Single White Female anyone? You know, the movie where this emotionally unstable woman wants to be her roommate?

Unless there is even a remote chance of you actually running a huge company like Apple, HTC, Samsung, etc., your question of which company would you like to be? is ludicrous to the extreme. You never will be that company (or more appropriately, running that company). All your statement does is betray your unhealthy emotional attachment to Apple.
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facts
banned from zdnet 10th Sep 2010
@DevJonny

ok, let's have a look again:
- android apps: 80.000 as of sep 10, 2010 (source: Andy Rubin, vice president of Engineering at Google; there are other numbers flying around but this one is official from google, and yes my 70.000 was wrong either, still 80.000 vs. 250.000)
- almost 60% of android apps are free:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/05/distimo-june-2010/
- hardware and os fragmentation is a fact (almost 50% of all android users are still on 1.5. & 1.6)
- android allows carriers all over the world to install crapware on their devices, vodafone is doing the same on devices in germany and uk
- the iphone is now still exclusive only in a few countries (most notably us, germany and china), wherever else apple went multi-carrier after their exclusive contract expired their reach expanded. fact. will be probably true in the us as well.
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More facts for the zealot
NonZealot Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet
still 80.000 vs. 250.000

First off, it isn't 250,000 because Apple uses rather creative counting to count apps. If an app has a trial version, that counts as 2 apps. If an app has a version for the iPad, that counts as 2 apps.

Second, who cares? Are there enough apps for Android that your needs are covered in the 80,000? The answer is yes.

Third, you'd better be careful because there are far more apps for Windows than for OS X. Are you prepared to argue that people shouldn't be using OS X because it only has a million apps instead of the hundreds of millions available for Windows? Yeah, exactly, you might want to stop the app count line of argument.

almost 60% of android apps are free

Sounds great for consumers! BTW, I followed your link and Windows Mobile marketplace has even fewer free apps than Apple's App Store. Will you be recommending Windows Mobile now?

hardware and os fragmentation is a fact

For Apple too. There are 2 screen sizes, 3 resolutions, the iPad doesn't support iOS4, the first iPhone can't be updated to iOS4 and the 2nd iPhone shouldn't be because performance is abysmal. Some iOS devices have GPS, some have gyro, some have cameras, some have speakers, others don't. Don't lie to us, fragmentation is a real problem for Apple.

I do have a question though: why is it so important to you that Android fails? I own an iPhone 4, I really like it, but I don't want Android (or WP7) to fail. I hope they do very well. What precisely is it about competition that has you so terrified?
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emotions
banned from zdnet Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
you seem to be the only one with an emotional problem around here in your pursuit to paint anyone in a bad light that has some different opinion from yours.

i am referring to the fact that pundits always solely talk about unit market share as if it would be a meaningful number. it isn't. to the contrary, it is highly misleading. unit market share doesn't mean anything.

it is a business. there are only two numbers that count in business environments: revenue and profits. so yes, if you would be a member of that game (and don't kid yourself, websites like these that are dependent on the pc ecosystem ad dollars are players in this game), what company would you rather be: a member of the android team, where even google doesn't make any money and some of their hardware partners are even losing money or apple and rimm reaping all the profits.

if this means android is "winning", i hope they will.

disclaimer: long aapl, short rimm, nokia

p.s. regarding fragmentation. any platform has to evolve to keep current. and yes you can't use an iphone or an ipod touch from THREE years ago with the newest software. but fragmentation is at another level for android where you have dozens of different hardware design (buttons, screen siezes, processors) and different os versions NOW, at this very moment. apple tries to keep a unified os platform for their developers and in contrast to what the cheapskates and freetards think, no, it is not good for the consumer to have an app environment where developers don't make much money because after a while they will simply leave.
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You are lying
NonZealot 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet
unit market share doesn't mean anything.

Sure it does. Just ask web developers of the 90s if IE's market share meant something.

there are only two numbers that count in business environments: revenue and profits

Huh, and here I thought that it was share price and market cap because Apple was winning in those numbers compared to MS. MS is winning the revenue and profits game. Huh, guess that means that you've just admitted that MS is a better company than Apple. Huh.

what company would you rather be

What street sign would you rather be? What food group would you rather be? What car would you rather be? Hey genius, your question is meaningless. You will never be Apple. You will never be Motorola. You will never run any of those companies. I will never run any of those companies. No one on ZDNet will ever run any of those companies. Your question betrays your Single White Female unhealthy obsession with the multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega-corporation that happens to build the bulk consumer goods that you happen to purchase. Seriously, get help dude!
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relax, you're much too emotional
banned from zdnet Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@NonZealot
you repeat yourself and you're switching topics.

yes, revenue and profit is all that counts in business. just ask someone from your grocery store around the corner. they will tell you. market cap is a reflection of the perceived overall value of a business in the near future. not so important in my book. it is important though what it represents: it is a prognosis about near term revenue and profit. apple will eclipse msft in revenue this quarter and in profits next year. that's not what i think alone, this is what wall-street thinks, hence the higher market cap.

and no, i don't wish doom about wp7 or symbian or bada, it is only android that bothers me and the principles that it represents. it is another try of google to kill a whole industry (the mobile os industry) by giving away something for free to suck more people into their adware and spyware business model (and give a free ride to second grade hardware companies in the process that otherwise would have never managed to get any decent product out the door).

i respect rimm, nokia, samsung and even microsoft (in this case) though, because they try to be innovative on their own terms (at least where they do not shamelessly copy iOS). yes, in my book, google is evil, getting much too powerful and i pity anyone that gives their data happily to their servers through gmail or android. heck, i even switched to bing! imagine that.
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Good Post Banned from ZD.
Davewrite 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet

you've covered most of the bases.

I'll like to add that even if Android grows it'll be loaded onto a lot cheap phones, some of which won't even run Google search or apps, some can't even be linked to app stores. Also Android is being loaded onto what is sold as cheap 'tablets' in China but what an analyst described as a 'fancy digital picture frames'. Just like the millions of 'flip phones', cheap MP3 players used as keychains sold on Asian road side stalls don't bother Apple, neither will Android picture frames, flip phones etc.

As Apple sucks up all the revenue in the phone business, already making more money than Nokia , around 50% of worldwide phone (smart and dumb) profits, competitors will be fighting for crumbs and their R&D spending, innovation will falter. At the start companies gambled they will have an 'iPhone Killer' and spent money like crazy hoping to recoup in sales (e.g Motorola and Verizon spent a 100 million on the original droid advertising campaign). But as NO android phone has achieved iPhone like sales (tens of millions of units) I doubt android phone makers can continue spending like that . Innovation and quality for Android phones (as we're beginning to see) will continue to fall. In the end iOS (like Mac) will take over the top profitable tier of the market. (Apple haters note: last year before the continuing big boom of mac sales Macs already made 35% of worldwide PC profits).
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Free Apps....
LazLong 10th Sep 2010
@banned from,

A point not usually considered is that the apps that are free to the user can be monetised differently. So not an issue for smart devs/houses. Some examples would be like the apps to deposit checks for banks or insurance, medical & stock apps, etc, which are developed/purchased/leased by the particular company for their online/cloud services.

Amount of apps is not a real issue. Who is really going to use even all 70,000?
just as long as they have the ones you want & need. Marketing Hype?

While there is some fragmentation. (mostly caused by the carriers for control & differentiation) Again not a major issue, as the majority of general users will pick the phone & plan that best suits them. Those that are more tech aware & interested will be more refined in their research & choice, or jailbreak or even purchase an unlocked phone.

Apple makes great products and has great marketing, and can be a great choice for some.

Still I prefer Android (& even Meego & WebOS). While I cannot predict the future, it would seem plausible that Android would end up in one of the top spots....

LL
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APPL future
Uralbas 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet

Gave the advice to short APPLsome time ago when AAPL reached 270, and those who did made money covering at 236. Right now it sits at 263 and most indications state that it should go down, specially when you consider how much market share its giving up.

Add based apps provide a constant stream of revenue compared to paid apps in the mobile environment. The more people use your app, that more money you make, so free apps are a win win situation, if you know what you're doing.

Android walks all over Apple to the point Apple had to change its Controlling Maniac policies, as they saw they were loosing market share fast. Steve Jobs suggested that Android activations where less than Apples, while he skewed phones with pods and pads to state that Apple barely beat Android Google enabled phones, that's not all Android phones.

Now, why is Apple losing market share in all other countries where its not subject to a single carrier. The answer is simple, cause it lags behind in technology and capabilities as well as price. It now trails and doesnt lead. It lacks soo much that is painful.

A) NO Swype
B) Flash.. rofl 180 degree turn
C) Gesture Control
D) Voice Control
E) Google Navigation
F) WIFI Access point
G) Better screens Super Amoled
H) Wireless DLNA access to monitors and better bluetooth 3.0
I) No Multicores
J) Less speed, less memory, less screen realstate, less features

The list is so huge that its painful to see how Apple is being trampled over.

The iPhone 4G did nothing to stop the trend with its small "retina" display. Inch for Inch any Galaxy S phone runs circles around it. See the contrast ratio between the retina and a super amoled, their is non, super amoled is a LOT better. Resolution between retina and a 4 inch super amoled is irrelevant cause it looks great. Now here is the kicker, have you tried using polarized lenses with a super amoled and a retina. Super Amoled can give you 3D!!! right there!! Retina NAH!!!

Now if you visit Admob and see its stats you shall see that the actual amount of apps is over 101K and 13K are now counted anymore... the actual number of all apps for Android actually borders around 115 which is half that of Apple. And year ago Apple had over 1000 times more apps. This is what Apple is scared of. They loose the lead in Apps, what else do they have to boast about? Its loosing in all fronts.

Best Hardware ---> Android dual core, new phones every month
Best Screen ---> Android Galaxy S true blacks not washed out sharp ones like iphone's 4G
Largest Screen ---> Android
Most Useful Apps ---> Android
Market Share ---> Android
Innovation ----> Android

A year ago Apple seemed untouchable and I can show you some of your replies to my comments. A year later you are still are on defensive, I really dont care anymore cause the tide is so huge you and all Apple loyalist can't change it. Its Worldwide. Even in the least develop countries Android is seen better than an iPhone, and their price counts cause they can't afford to spend 800 dollars on a phone equivalent to the shares of a telco company with a landline for life. Why spend 800 bucks on something that will be obsolete in a few months?

If Apples doesn't lead in anything, what will justify paying a premium for its products? the cover?? Liquid Metal??? the Name???

If you want to give your money away to Apple, be my guest, smart people wont.
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Davewrite, you should not allow fear to control you.
Mister Spock 10th Sep 2010
much like OS reload: You allow fear of competing products to colour your statements and control what you post

Your writings are of half truths and "Fuzy Math", but that aside, what is it about Android, Windows, Dell, ect, that you fear?

Why do you worry if Android becomes more widely adopted then the iPhone? Why are you so upset that Windows easilly outsells OSX?

No one is forcing you to use them, are they? You have the choice of what you want to use, why should it matter if the vast majority chose to use something other then a Mac?

Why should it bother you if more people choose to use an Android phone over an Apple phone in the coming years?

As long as you are content with your choice, your purchase, does the fact that more people are purchasing a competing product somehow change how your units operate? Will someone else's purchase of an Android product somehow change or diminish the satisfaction you have with your Apple purchase?

You posts show why you should not allow your human emotions to control your choices: It appears as though owning the iPhone somehow makes you feel superior to those around you.

Pride in one's material purchases is highly illogical.
plain
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as usual
banned from zdnet Updated - 11th Sep 2010
@Uralbas

most of your post is personal preference and wishful thinking - as usual. iOS is not losing any share, besides some seasonality share is still growing fast. android is also growing fast. the ones that are losing share right now are symbian and winmo.

the android ecosystem is fundamentaly flawed because:
- the carriers are taking over control again (one of the biggest accomplishments of apple with the iphone was to give the control over the device back to the hardware maker - now with android they seem to happily give this freedom up again)
- participants (google and the hardware maker) don't make a lot of money, hence this business model is not very sustainable

sure some geeks like android because they hate apple, the laughable "open" meme and the empty bullet points on a feature list that you happily collected (some of them even incorrectly) but most people don't. dual core? you gotta be kidding.

and no, besides the fact that admob doesn't publish any app stats, again the official number (officially of google's andy rubin) is 80.000 apps as of last week, that's 32% of the app count at the appstore. sorry to burst your bubble but this is a long way to go before they even come close. your wishful thinking can't change that either.
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samiup: Good points. Android is like a freight train coming. It will be
DonnieBoy 10th Sep 2010
impossible to stop. Google is innovating so much faster than Apple on all of the things that go with the phone, like, search, turn-by-turn directions, mapping in general, etc. And, then there is all of the hardware innovation from all of the manufacturers building Android phones.
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The thing to notice is that they are only predicting 3.9% for Windows Phone
DonnieBoy 10th Sep 2010
in 2014 (or whatever they call it in 2014).

But, with all of the innovation pouring in to Android, it will be impossible to stop.
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Elop's job isn't to save symbian's market share, its to switch it over to
Johnny Vegas 10th Sep 2010
WindowsPhone. There is no saving symbian's share now.

Also that chart is about what would happen if nothing new was ever introduced so you can immediately throw it out. Save it and look at it again once the 2014 numbers are available and you will see how laughably wrong it is.
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Even a former Microsoft Employee would not be THAT stupid.
DonnieBoy 10th Sep 2010
You do not shake things up by going with the biggest loser in mobile.
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The thing I noticed was the predicted decline is iOS...
DevJonny 10th Sep 2010
...market share by 2014.

I'd like to know how they worked that one out.
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By that time, Android will be equal to iOS, and there will be a ton more
DonnieBoy 10th Sep 2010
devices on the market, and, Apple has really pissed off carriers and manufacturers. You can bet that Verizon is squeezing Apple to keep a higher percentage of the profits.
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prediction
banned from zdnet 10th Sep 2010
@DevJonny
tea leaves?

seriously. 2014? it is a pity that none of the bloggers will look back then on this prediction and will hold them accountable if they were wrong.
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Android OS
bmonsterman 10th Sep 2010
Is pretty solid. It's a serious contender to iOS, any comments to the contrary are just wrong. It's good to have a choice. Apple will be forced to continue innovate in order to maintain a competitive advantage...that's a good thing.
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Android launched 2007 when Google LARGER than Apple market cap.
Davewrite Updated - 10th Sep 2010
flash forward 2009
with Android phones coming out Apple PASSES Google in market cap.

flash forward 2010
Apple is now 90 BILLION $ larger than Google!
(240 billion vs 151 billion)

---
I just wanted to point that out as an interesting note.
as all apple haters seem to think Apple is 'suffering' from Android attack.
Everyone knew about Android, there are countless (countless! dozens in ZDnet alone) about Android is going to be Mac vs PC again. there's the Android army, Apple will collapse like in the 80's etc. yet Apple stock SOARS and Google.... pfft
(I own both stocks).

hard nosed investors (most Apple Google stock are owned by large institutional investors like mutual funds) who actually look at the numbers: profitability, growth etc don't seem to have much faith in Google's strategy. Android phones are being loaded with Yahoo, Bing and in China Baidu, and non Google apps, some non removable. Android's path isn't as rosy for Google as people think.

WHAT GOOGLE SHOULD HAVE DONE:
Google should have not launched android. Schmidt will still be on Apple's board with an inside scoop of the largest most innovative tech company on the planet. With this inside info Google would have tied it's search, apps closely to iOS as iOS takes over the world like iPod. Google would have been rolling in gravy instead of spending millions on Android. Google could have held Android as a THREAT on Steve Jobs head "keep Google as default search on iPhone, don't go into Search or web advertising or I'll launch Android".
But Schmidt was GREEDY.
Now Android phones like I said are being loaded with Yahoo, Bing and millions with Baidu. And Apple is into web advertising and maps etc. Stupid Google move.

ON THE OTHER HAND
(pure speculative fantasy)
Maybe Google and Apple are still working together.
Android and iOs to avoid all the Msft problems with 'monopoly' and the EU etc. Google is still on iOS as default search. Steve and Schmidt are still spotted having coffee together (although probably a PR stunt) and during the antenna crisis Steve called Google ' a great company'.
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
bmonsterman 10th Sep 2010
@Davewrite,

Frankly I could care less who gets rich off of all of this. I'm glad that someone is competing with Apple in the product space (nobody else is). Choices are good. Otherwise you would have an ATT/Apple stranglehold on the smartphone market. Why be such a hater?
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
bmonsterman Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@Davewrite,

What's wrong with a little healthy competition? If it weren't for Android, ATT/Apple would have a stranglehold on the smart phone application. Why be such a hater?
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like i said:
Davewrite Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@bmonsterman

I own stocks in both companies.
If Google did like I said both stocks would have skyrocketed.

i was very clear in my post about this been a side note on marketcap so why do you have statements like "Why be such a hater?", and "Frankly I could care less who gets rich off of all of this." etc.

If you're not interested in the topic of my thread about Google apple stock/investment and relative growth in marketcap (which is to me interesting an seldom discussed i.e Android's growth coincides with Apple overtaking Google), WHY POST on the thread and make sarcastic statements? who has got issues here? You're posting on a thread where you admit about the topic "frankly I don't care about it" and say others have issues??? why don't you start your own thread and put some useful info like me that others can contemplate?

The fact of in the years since Google's Android launch has let Apple match and then supersede Google's market cap by 90 Billion is a big story which is little known. The fact that Apple makes huge amounts of money and Google's earnings and stock price is troubled hints at how long each can sustain innovation in the field. One of the reasons Msft has so much trouble with Win Mo is that it makes so little money of Win Mo ($10-15 per license). if you don't understand money in tech you don't really understand the field or what's in store (I wrote when it was launched people shouldn't buy the Palm Pre as reading the financials Palm was in trouble. Now if you've bought a Pre you would have questions about upgrades, very few apps as other phones push ahead etc)
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Banned, Dave & Dave are the Kings of the Applette iNazis! lolz
i2fun@... Updated - 14th Sep 2010
@Davewrite Gardner Research hasn't been wrong (or at least far off) yet, cuz at least they are able to step back and analyze this from all aspects with totally non-partisan views. While Dave & Dave and Banned are all iFanatics with visions of CrApple as Supreme Commander of the Universe and Beyond!

For them there is no bigger corporate entity on the entire globe and saying anything contrary constitutes Treason of the highest order. That..... for them should be punishable by DEATH.

Like the Nazis of WWII before them, they tout CrApple's iNazi Superiority over the average Android race of Products. They would have us all believe that just because Gartner Research has never been far off in the past, that this time them and every other analyst group that defies their authoritarian CrApple Totalitarianism, will be a blunderbuss in coming years.

But the reality is that CrApple will fall to the masses of devices this time around.... no different than CrApple fell to Microsoft Windows in the 90's in the first place! haha... what a laugh!

btw.... I think Special Straight Jackets should be ordered for these perverse CrApple iFantoid Lunatics to wear after they are committed to Sanitariums. Labeled "I Love Apple till Death Do Us Part"! ...with the Apple Logo symbolized as a rotted and decayed Apple core on the front of their beany caps with propellers on top!
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What does one look like?
mlindl 10th Sep 2010
I'm having a hard time buying some of the assumptions. First, in Europe, no carrier is exclusive to the iPhone in the EU and the iPhone has been and will continue to be the top choice for smart phones.

Secondly, when the iPhone comes to Verizon, I can't help but think that Android will suffer. If most of the apps are free, who cares if you lose them? But if you pay for half your apps for the iPhone, you will never change because of the cost to change platforms. Apple has suffered from that for years.

I don't think Apple will ever be number one in the long run.

I don't think the MSFT exec going to Nokia will be able to change a thing.

The phone market isn't about software, its about uses.

Unless MSFT and Nokia create some killer app that they close everyone else off to (hardly possible these days), I think the iPhone is placed to be THE leader in profits, technology deployment and consumer satisfier for years to come.

Google, Nokia and MSFT just don't have that kind of user satisfaction thinking in their DNA.

If you haven't bought any yet, get AAPL now because some predict it will hit $1000 per share by the end of 2011.
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You Should be in Comedy w/ that last line! haha...
i2fun@... 14th Sep 2010
@mlindl
"If you haven't bought any yet, get AAPL now because some predict it will hit $1000 per share by the end of 2011."

Wow, I mean if you had name dropped who exactly claims AAPL will hit $1000 a share I might have taken you seriously and read up on it. But.... alas nothing turns up in search that even approaches that. Then I realized you're either a nutcase or a comedian. So I opted for being a comedian to save you from being committed to a Sanitarium like Banned, Dave & Dave will no doubt be! wink
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
kerns@... 10th Sep 2010
What about the fact that Android is CDMA only on Verizon Wireless? Without Android GSM phones from VZW, how can Android grow to be the world leader?
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
czorrilla Updated - 10th Sep 2010
@kerns@... News for you: There is a whole world out there, outside the USA!!!

Besides that, there are gsm android devices in USA.
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
bmonsterman 10th Sep 2010
@kerns@...
Verizon isn't the only carrier that offer Android phones. Let's not forget that ATT is the only carrier that offers iPhones...and they seems to be doing fine. I'll be happy if no one is the undisputed winner.
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
czorrilla Updated - 10th Sep 2010
banned from zdnet:


Finally you show your hate towards google as I suspected. If adware/spyware is what you hate in google then sorry for you pal because everyone is heading to that direction, even Apple.

The principles Android represents IS why I like it and that is why I still use MS Windows for certain task even tough I know all of its failures and I use Ubuntu Linux for some tasks and Android Linux for mobile.

Google is not killing the mobile industry, google is giving us options, you take or leave it. That opinion of "second grade hardware companies" is complete nonsense, because those companies are not that, even some of them make the phones or components of the major phones and smartphones of today, including the iphones, windows phones and blackberries.

"shamelessly copy iOS" is another bovine manure, Android was a startup company before the iphone saw the light of the day, and if it comes to copy, IOS took some pages from the book of Palm my friend.

"In my book, google is evil, getting much too powerful and i pity anyone that gives their data happily to their servers through gmail or android. heck, i even switched to bing! imagine that.""

Well pal, if you did that than you are giving your privacy and information to Microsoft, and Apple does the same, and as I said before the government too, so how about you shut yourself out of the grid completely?

Passion either in favor or against a technology is nonsense in this field of work.

If someone appears with a new mobile OS called Stratosphere 4.5 and makes me do what I want better than what I use now I'll switch, as a lot of us have done since the days of the Sharp Wizards, when we changed to palm or Windows CE.
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Predictions, predictions, predictions
eMJayy 10th Sep 2010
Gartner might as well be using a soothsayer octopus to make predictions, because so far they've been underestimating the mobile market. Wasn't it this time last year that Gartner announced that Android would become No.2 by 2012? Unless my calendar is lying to me, we're in 2010 and Android is 2 years ahead of Gartner's predicted schedule.

I'm willing to bet that Android will accomplish market share parity with Symbian quite a bit sooner than 2014, given the fact that Android phones are finally making its way into developing markets as we speak. Developing markets are one of the big reasons why Symbian remains so popular globally and the reason why there are as many as 4 billion cellphone users worldwide. Nokia has a very solid reputation in these huge markets, but the developing market and its many phone carriers are hungry for touchscreen phones at affordable prices and Nokia hasn't delivered so far. Android is going to beat Symbian to establishing affordable touchscreen smartphone technology in these zones and I expect this is going to erode Symbian's market share even faster than Gartner anticipates.

As for RIM and Apple, I think their fates are ultimately going to be decided by the carriers. People seem to forget that the subsidies paid by the carriers is a big reason why these phones are attractive to consumers. Cheaper smartphones are coming and this will mean less subsidy payments per phone to the manufacturers and higher profits from each data plan sold with a cheaper phone. Carriers are going to be tempted to try to find ways for users of phones that require higher subsidy payments to pay more. And they're going to invest more on what makes them the most money. After all, they're actually selling data services, not phones.
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
Emak1 10th Sep 2010
A suggestion to ZDNet, please limit the number of comments from the same user to a fixed number. This will eliminate by default the debatable option and keep the site to its purpose...
For every article, you have a similar situation where it becomes emotional debates instead. And us loyal reader, fall to the same trap of curiosity...

Please consider such feature enhancement.
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entertainment
banned from zdnet 10th Sep 2010
@Emak1
but isn't it more entertaining that way? wink
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
czorrilla 10th Sep 2010
@banned from zdnet
I think you are actually paid to do what you do in the comments sections.
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czorrilla, you are not the first to mention that
Mister Spock 10th Sep 2010
There are a few here that many have concluded are paid by various companies to talk up/down particular products (Apple, Goolge, ect).

banned from zdnet, Davewrite, and so on may very well be recieving paychecks from large corporations for their "opinions"
plain
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yes please!
banned from zdnet Updated - 11th Sep 2010
@czorrilla
i would really love that. unfortunately it is only a "hobby".
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logic, oh logic
banned from zdnet 11th Sep 2010
@Mister Spock

following your logic your paychecks would come from redmond. or your preference for all things microsoft is something else entirely. what is it?
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
wanharris@... 11th Sep 2010
Its captivating to know whether if the banned of using some Smartphones like Blackberry in certain countries such as India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will have any effect on this prediction global market share of Smartphones.

I am positively sure that more and more developed and developing countries might follow the rule decision set by others on those countries. Do you think this would impact slightly on the forecasts?
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
alicesmile49 23rd Nov 2010
I'm sick of having to blow 2-300 bucks every time MS wants my money, and then to find out I've got to have all new computers, too. MS can have the rich man's money, but mine's 'way too tight. If I can't use XP, Then Ubuntu, here I come!
By testking 642-832
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
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RE: Android to catch Symbian for global market share lead, says Gartner
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