The debate over whether Verizon’s Droid running Google’s Android mobile OS will provide tough enough competition to Apple’s iPhone may finally be put to rest with comScore’s latest report titled ‘Android: Crashing the Smartphone Party’. This survey studies the present U.S. mobile environment and Google’s impact on the smartphone market with their Android OS.
Among mobile users, awareness regarding Google’s Android platform seems to have risen from 22% in August of this year to 37% last month. This may have resulted largely due to the Verizon Droid advertising campaign that was launched this fall. Apparently more people seem to be intent upon purchasing an Android powered phone too. Back in August 2009, 7% of respondents revealed an intention to purchase the Android-enabled T-Mobile MyTouch while 21% preferred to acquire an iPhone.
“With handsets on multiple carriers, from multiple manufacturers, and numerous Android device models expected to be in the U.S. market by January, the Android platform is rapidly shaking up the smartphone market. While iPhone continues to set the bar with its App Store and passionate user base, and RIM remains the leader among the business set, Android is clearly gaining momentum among developers and consumers,†remarked Mark Donovan, comScore senior VP of mobile.
A study of mobile media consumption on smartphones reports that owners of Apple and Android-supported phones were more likely to engage with mobile media than the average smartphone user. Apple iPhone users were most apt to consume mobile media, with 94% of users doing so in September of this year, while 92%of Android phone users, mostly T-Mobile G1 users, engaged in mobile media activities. E-mail seems to have fewer takers among Android users as compared to iPhone users.
One of the major observations that emerge from comScore’s Android: Crashing the Smartphone Party seems to be the overall data indications which state that Android users will behave more like iPhone owners as compared to other smartphone users.
