14 DAY TRIAL // Google's Android mobile operating system is enjoying increasing traction on the market, the latest figures the Internet giant unveiled to the world show. It seems that the company is currently activating a number of 200,000 Android-based devices each day, Google chief Eric Schmidt said at the Techonomy conference, a figure up 25 percent from the 160,000 handsets the company was activating daily in late June.
The increase rate is as impressive as it can be, especially when compared to the number of devices the company was activating each day about three months ago, namely 100,000. Indeed, the adoption of Android doubled in the time frame, and, in case it continues growing at the same rate, it should enable the platform climb up to the top in the near future.
At the current rate, Google is shipping a number of 18 million Android devices, more than double when compared to the 8.4 million iPhones Appe shipped during the last quarter. RIM shipped only 11.2 million BlackBerry smartphones. Of course, not all Android devices out there are smartphones, as the first tablet PCs and other devices to run under the OS already emerged, but this doesn't meant that Android doesn't rise as the main rival against most mobile operating systems out there.
Android's growth is greatly helped by the fact that Google does not deliver both the software and the hardware for existing handsets. Unlike Apple and RIM, which provide both the OS and the devices, Google only offers the Android platform, which is included in different form factors from various handset manufacturers around the world.
The distribution approach Google chose for the Android OS might have proven helpful as well. While Apple has its iPhone available in certain markets such as the US exclusively via one wireless carrier, handsets running under Android are available via a larger number of operators, which expands their reach towards more market segments.