Android runs 52% of smartphones sold

The smartphone market continues to grow worldwide, with Google's Android now the platform of choice for more than half of those sold

Samsung Asia CEO Gregory Lee with the Galaxy Note Android phone. Samsung is the world leader in smartphone sales, according to Gartner. Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters

The smartphone market grew by 42% year-on-year in the third quarter to reach 115.2m units, with Google's Android operating system running more than half those sold, according to data from the research company Gartner.

The overall mobile market grew by just 5.6% worldwide, to 440.5m units, as smartphones grew further to hit a record 26% of the total sold.

Smartphones also continued their pattern of outselling PCs, which first happened in the fourth quarter of 2010; the gap between smartphone and PC sales is now widening steadily.

The success of Android, which powered 52.5% of handsets shipped – compared to 25.3% a year before – just three years after its launch indicates that the open platform, which allows handset makers to install it without paying a licensing fee, has been a roaring success for adoption.

The figures from Gartner suggest that 218m Android handsets have been sold since the first went on sale in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In total, more than 1bn smartphones have been sold since the first quarter of 2007, according to Gartner's figures from the past four years.

The explosion in smartphone usage has principally come from Android handsets which have seen strong sales growth, especially in China.

Yet sales in the third quarter did not accelerate as quickly in other regions, said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"Demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets such as Western Europe and the US as many users waited for new flagship devices featuring new versions of the key operating systems," she said. "Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa."

Gartner said that Samsung was the leader in smartphone sales, pegging its shipments at 24m – less than the 27.8m suggested in October by Strategy Analytics, and close to that suggested by rival research firm IDC, which put the figure at 23.6m more recently.

Apple saw its share pushed down marginally from 16.6% in the third quarter of 2010 to 15% in 2011 even though sales rose from 13.4m to 17.3m, as purchases stalled in the expectation of an improved iPhone model – which did not arrive until October, pushing those sales into the fourth quarter.

Carolina Milanesi, Gartner's smartphone analyst, said: "Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China represented 16% of Apple's third-quarter sales, confirming that the iPhone has a role to play in emerging markets."

BlackBerry maker RIM saw further erosion of its share from 15.4% a year ago to 11% as sales remained almost flat at 12.7m.

"Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 and RIM," said Cozza.

"Apple's iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone. Continued pressure is impacting RIM's performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point so far in the US market, where it dropped to 10%."

But Gartner expects sales to grow more rapidly in the fourth quarter, as roughly 20m extra handsets are sitting in wholesale and retail channels ahead of the expected Christmas rush in sales.

"Some consumers held off upgrading in the third quarter because they were waiting for promotions on other new high-end models that were launched in the run-up to the fourth quarter holiday season," Cozza said.

"Other consumers were waiting for a rumored new iPhone and associated price cuts on older iPhone models; this affected US sales particularly."

Nokia's Symbian, which the company has said will be phased out, nevertheless sold 19.5m handsets, more than Apple achieved, but its market share halved.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, only launched in October 2010, shipped on just 1.7m handsets – a fall from the second quarter, when Gartner says it shipped on 1.72m devices.

Some of the fall may be due to some customers waiting for Nokia handsets to ship with Windows Phone, which has begun this month in the UK and a number of countries. US and Canadian shipments of Nokia phones with Microsoft's OS are not due to start until 2012.

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Can Androids and Human Be Friends?

Is there any other choice?

Today's androids are showing up more human-appearing. They're constructed with new age materials, with artificial intelligence, using faster and more powerful computers. They're, all around, more talented and capable robots, embedded with new technologies. But where do you draw the line dividing the use of 'droids in life and in the workplace, from skilled human workers? So called unskilled workers for that matter. Already we're hearing warnings like: "Don't eat food prepared by a 'droid who can't taste it."

Could we reach a computer runaway, where androids take over, driving humans from all levels of society, including the rich and powerful, to the homeless, and everyone in the middle? Would this be good for humankind? Obviously not.

What if the androids did all the work, and the people all lived like kings from their labors? Would this be better? Initially maybe. But what if the 'droids took an unusual turn, due to the law of unexpected consequences? Maybe because of a mistake in their programming or contradiction in their perceived mandate. Maybe because over-population isn't good for us. How would this all turn out? Uncertain and real scary. Maybe it would end up in the first case anyway: an android takeover. Say you could live like a king if you spent all your waking moments trying to jump through impossible hoops; no joy there. Or maybe your 'droid servants would come to the conclusion ecotopia was best for you, and we'd all be living in the woods and as hunter-gatherers. Still having the title of king, of course. Not so good for the majority-a few would probably think it was great. They could live an idyllic life, unencumbered by technology intrusions: no phone calls, no utility bills, no computer problems, and no television - gulp.

In either case 'droids would be ascendant and humans would be in a bad way, even a threatened species. All 7 billion of us. The point is: Would the downfall of humanity be good for the androids? Not really. Why? Because it's unlikely that 'droids could make significant progress without that spark of human intelligence making it happen. Hopefully the androids would know this before things got too bad for humans. Or better, far-sighted human developers and programmers would instill this into androids in the first place. A lot of thought and adjustments would have to be made along the way. Obviously androids would have to live like humans: working jobs (or jobless) saving money, buying homes (or living with the homeless), paying utility bills, seeing professionals, and even doing travel and taking vacations.

Copyright: Stanley Gerson, 2011

The new book iSly, is a fresh look at real androids, fitted to live and work in society. eSly is an environmental and economic saving android race. But it all goes wrong when iSly spontaneously shifts out from eSly, starts to replicate himself, and goes on his own, sinister mission. World leaders are horrified. A resurgent Joseph Dane is on the case, with Bluegrass, his colorful sidekick, and TatarKhan, Hypernet Master. They pursue a dangerous, last ditch effort to find the cause of this 'droid disaster, and to help a chastened humanity find a new future.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6657808

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