Regarding Gartner saying Android market share will surpass iPhone

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Gartner says global Android market share will surpass iPhone market share by 2011:

Gartner expects manufacturers such as Samsung to launch many new budget Android devices in 2H10 that will drive Android into mass market segments. Other players, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will follow a similar strategy. This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010.

Android would remain second only to Nokia.

Totally unrelated link: iPhone is 3% of handset unit volume, 2x profit of RIM, Nokia, Sony combined. iPad next?

[Gartner via Android Central]

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

30 Comments
  • Hey, no one is talking about the other Gartner prediction that it'll pass Symbian and become the number 1 mobile OS in 2015. Second in 2014, but that's by less than one percent. It doesn't take a genius to figure what will happen in 2015.
    Bah, Apple is unique. They don't play in the high volume, low margin budget device game. Every product they have is basicilly a premium product in it's category. Or a high margin one.
    We can congratulate Google and move on. Not sure what they have achieved to their bottom line or what it will achieve in the long run though.
  • I agree, Apple is not high volume. The fact that they jump started the industry and got a year or so ahead of everyone else doesn't mean they are in it for mass quantity. I'm sure they would love to sell the most but the reason I like Apple is they don't sacrafice quality or their ecosystem just to win a race that doesn't really benefit consumers or their bottom line.
    The thing I look forward too is the day Fandroids stop treating this like a race. By 2011 Android phones will be old news.. the new PC of the mobile world. Quantity will get Google their search in as many hands as possible, and Quality will keep Apple ahead of their competition in ways that matter.
  • I just like the fact that the associated image is of the 2 devices squaring off in the cage, decked out in mma gloves rather than a boxing ring with boxing gloves. My how the times have changed...(from a fighter's standpoint)
  • Is apple giving a hand to it's enemy in the image?
  • "We dissagree"
    Sent from my iPhone
  • Odd that what resonates here seems to be all the Apple customers agreeing how overpriced their devices are.
    Excessive profits come from excessive prices.
    Get there seems to be this self congratulateory air of backslapping and highfiving each other for paying excessive prices.
    In what other segment of life is that considered rational, or any thing other than boorish?
  • This just in the sells of Ford Fiesta have surpassed the dismal sells of the Ferrari 360
  • @Icebike
    As opposed to getting a cheap phone subsidized by privacy invading technologies and free services that you don't own, could come to depend on, and have taken away from you -- along with the data you've given them -- at any time and with no recourse?
    There are good and bad things about every business model. Narrow margins don't seem to lead to sustainable profits for companies, which don't seem to lead to those companies innovating in a consumer-oriented manner.
    As for "excessive prices", to paraphrase Patrick Norton, if any of these phones were made in the US they'd cost $5000 dollars. The prices certainly aren't excessive, though Apple's cut of them is certainly way in excess of much of the rest of the industry.
    Darn $199 price points! Argh! ;)
  • Coke vs Pepsi
    Nike vs Adidas
    McDonalds vs Burger King
    iPhone vs Android...
    I've seen this before!
    I love my iPhones, but I think the Android is going to be the future unless Apple became more open-source like.
    Kick Butt
  • Gartner, seriously ? Not that one cares about numbers...
  • Why people insist on thinking that Apple "needs" to become more Open-Source? Personally, as IT professional and consumer of mobile and home tech, I don't give a rats behind whether a platform is "Open Source". What I do care about is that the platform I choose does what I need it to do. In IT spaces, (just) one of the major items is that the platform is secure.
    Apple doesn't need to become more "open sourced". What they need to do eventually is to get the platform available to more consumers than just ATT.
  • Why would it even be considered much of an accomplishment for a company like Android that makes several handsets every few months to finally surpass iPhone who makes only one once a year in marketshare? :|
  • The most popular car in the world is Toyota Corolla. Couldn't care less.
  • Not really an unexpected outcome. It's like Mac vs. PC. There's only one premium priced option verses a varying degree of options from extremely budge oriented to high premium priced. Of course as the second "unrelated" article seems to imply, Apple's premium price is insane when compared to other companies' premium prices, the "Apple tax".
  • I loled! Everyone check out the pictures to the right - it's muppets TiPb! Love it. As far as the article goes, check out this week's Macalope. There are now Android phones that are LOCKED into Bing. That's openness, not being able to change your search engine. Well, Apple doesn't let you change yours either. Oh wait...
  • @Rene:
    Scare tactic much?
    Why would you trust Apple more than Google? Apple has lied to you over and over, yet you still grant them white knight status.
  • Mav says:
    September 13, 2010 at 1:11 pm
    The most popular car in the world is Toyota Corolla. Couldn’t care less.
    I couldn't agree more. My sister runs a Rogers Wireless store and has used pretty much every phone out there and placed Android handsets near the bottom of the heap beneath both Blackberry and Iphone.
  • Again .. Android will take over IPHOne .. in the US ..only after the Verizon Deal..
  • @JD Fandroids are treating this like a Race because iFans were treating like a race until they saw the writing on the wall .. now it's all about "profitability" .... LOL ..
    I think talking about a company's profitability is the dumbest item to use for an argument... it's just saying that at least on the surface the Company is sscrewing over theri customers.. LOL
  • I know that Apple isn't perfect. Granted. But, I also admit they have done more for me than any other manufacturer when I've had to call them. I tried Verz, and had the UN-Incredible back in June. I HATED it! The Android Market was laughable at best. Even though I have CRAPPY service with AT&T, I could not trade my fav apps and abilities of my iPhone 4 for anything else. The heart wants what the heart wants!
  • All you have to do is take a look at how much Apple news gets discussed in Android sites versus how much Android news gets discussed on Apple sites. Look for excuses like profits and exclusivity, when not too long ago it was all about the long lines and millions sold. How soon everyone will be an iPhone user while all the other companies will shrivel and die. Now the world can't get enough of Android so Apple users cling to whatever advantage points that have left, even when those points don't actually offer any advantage to the end user. Google is adding innovations to Android and the Google experience almost daily and will see two major OS releases before Apple sees its next one. Apple will be playing catch up to Gingerbread while Android is moving to Honeycomb. But hey, as long as Apple is making a killing that's all that matters right?
  • I'm not sure why either side cares about this. I'd prefer if Android sails away with marketshare.
    Be careful what you wish for. More marketshare = more control that carriers want. More marketshare = more focus on mainstream features like Ping and Gamecenter and less focus on things like a mifi app (that all this marketshare is making carriers nervous about approving) or better notifications.
    Neither platform is in danger of going extinct. But i much prefer Apple in a niche role (as opposed to a marketshare leading role) trying to innovate as much as possible to cater to a premium crowd. So go Android..
  • Once again, a multitude of Android phones vs a single phone. Dont get me wrong, Android is nice and that is pretty much it. Tried it and it has potential and wish it much success as the next OS.
    Until Google takes the OS more seriously, meaning that it prohibits the phone manufacturers from changing the OS to fit their needs then I will take Android more seriously. Until then, people should just choose what works with for them and move on. Its that simple.
  • FreakNasty is exhibit A of the Highlander Syndrome that there can only be one winner in the mobile space. If you have to be explained how there than can be more than one winner in the mobile space, then please ban yourself from commenting on this website.
  • bhobgyzkhwiwpodqoemw, mattress topper, HzUyYrC.
  • Android Gingerbread Expected to be Released in a Matter of Days
  • I have read most of comments, and I think (due to the gauntlet being thrown down by original article) half the posters are getting defensive about their own current phone choice.
    I think the point being missed IMO is choice. My phone runs Maemo on Nokia N900 - I love it. Its works like a PC, which is what I want.
    If it was left to Microsoft on the PC market, and Apple on the mobile market we would be in a society which is very bland of choice.
    I am a major Open Source supporter - I use Linux on my PC and Laptops, and also Linux/Maemo on my mobile. I will also be looking at Android and the new project Meego (from Nokia/Intel) in about 12 months because they are exciting new inovative projects - and they are open source.
    My view between Apple/Microsoft closed source software is simple. They invest vast amounts of money in research and paying massive wages to developers in their quests of innovation and progressing. Basically they do it themselves and the cost are quite rightly passed on to the consumer with a profit margin.
    Open source IMO is low cost, because basically companies or individuals are adding to a project that has already been done but you are just making it better or to adapt it to your needs. Its kind of obvious that if the biggest phone suppliers in the world are contributing to the same project instead of working on their own projects then innovation moves so much fast and cost effective which then gets passed onto the consumer - double bonus.
    But ultimately its about having choice for me. Android provides this, with Meego too. Will Android conquer? Like others have said it doesn't really matter that much.
  • cry fanbois cry
    OPEN SOURCE IS THE FUTURE
    take off your heads from your a**holes
  • Wow this kind of tutorial is amazing it genuinely helped me and also my family, cheers!
  • Sadly, this hiring boom in the health care industry will all come to an abrupt end if the Supreme Court rules against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in June 2012. Republicans do not want the ACA to succeed and create jobs and growth for fear that President Obama may get re-elected to a second term. They would rather that Americans remain jobless and hurting than to see the recovery continue. Republican politicians are more concerned with keeping their jobs in the Congress than they are in seeing Americans find employment. This is not the Republican Party of the Reagan era. This is a very different GOP. Today we have a Republican Party of right-wing extremists that are "only" intent on obstruction and partisan politics. Their only focus is to win a political game. Just ask Senator Mitch McConnell, the Leader of Republicans in the Senate. His only focus is to make Obama a one-term President. He has no other agenda.