Data points stack up in favor of Android surge
The NPD Group on Wednesday released its latest wireless data and the results look pretty good for the Android army.
NPD reported that Android handsets accounted for 33 percent of all smartphones purchased in the second quarter in the U.S. RIM accounted for 28 percent and Apple had 22 percent.
However, Android's run may be slowing a bit. NPD analyst Ross Rubin said:
For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers. While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch.
Indeed, RIM's Torch BlackBerry and the iPhone 4 may slow Android a bit. However, Android devices keep coming. Motorola's Droid and HTC's Droids Incredible and Eris, Evo 4G and Hero are the top 5 Android devices. Toss in new Androids from Samsung and the army is just getting bigger. Simply put, Android devices can just flood the market relative to other operating systems---at least until Windows Phone 7, which has a bevy of handset makers lined up.
Earlier this week, Nielsen and Canalys highlighted significant Android momentum and there appears to be an installed base there too.
This chart from Nielsen tells the tale. RIM has the highest installed base, but the momentum resides with Android.
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