Android News
Android’s growth nearly triples; 160,000 phones activated each day
June 23, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
Android News, Google Android
It seems like every time an executive from Google opens his mouth, Android’s growth numbers increase. In February, CEO Eric Schmidt said that Android ships 60,000 phones each day. Then last month at Google I/O, Vic Gundotra said that number had climbed to 100,000 activations per day. Not to be outdone, Google VP of engineering Andy Rubin says the number now sits at 160,000 activations a day.
That’s a whole lot of phones.
So what’s the reason for this increase? The obvious answer is better phones. With each passing week, there’s a new phone on the horizon with a new form factor or specs that make it the big dog on another carrier. HTC has struggled to meet demand for the EVO, Desire, and Incredible, and we’ll soon see folks lining up for the Samsung Captivate, Galaxy S, and Vibrant or Droid X.
It remains to be seen if Android can sustain this type of growth. Frustration with Android, temptation from the iPhone, or even a relaxed pace of releases could stem the tide of the increased sales. If I were a gambling man, I’d take the over on the average number of activations leveling off at something above 160,000.
How about you?
I think the numbers are going to keep skyrocketing. The big thing is the massive marketing hype the new phones have been getting form Sprint and Verizon. I wonder how much hype AT&T will put behind Android when the iPhone is no longer exclusive, but right now every other carrier has to pitch Android and they are starting to pitch pretty hard.
congrats Android
If only Android had Billy Mays as a pitch man…
yeah, funny thing; about a month ago i was dreaming about iPhone without handcuffs, but i thought it was the only plausible touchscreen smartphone on the market. Then someone mentioned "HTC" and "Android". After studying some convincing tech reviews, i ordered Desire.
People are propably just becoming more aware of Android and it's capabilities.
It’s going to keep on going up. I’m typing this reply on my android phone. The fact that android is carrier neutral, and runs on so many hi-tech phones now (and some very cool one’s that are soon to come out), it’s no wonder that it’s doing so well. Symbian is practically dead for smartphones (though is still strong for simpler phones), so what else do you have now? Blackberry – dead too because of the $3000 per year license you need to buy if you’re using it for work (corporate email). Why would a business pay that if you could do “push” with Exchange server for free? How about WinMobile phones? Not exactly dead (I’ve had two windows phones in the past for years), but could be if microsoft doesn’t catch up.
So what’s left? Android and iPhones. Personally, I think the iphone 4 is better in some aspects than the motorola droid (my current phone) – like dual facing cameras and higher resolution – but it’s not better than the HTC Evo (my friend has one). The Evo also has dual cameras (and a higher res camera in the back, 8mp instead of only 5), almost the same screen resolution (granted, the iphone 4 is slightly higher), has a scratch resistant screen (omg! no more screen protectors needed!), has a bigger screen, and has the same processor speed.
…a couple more things…
I like the fact that there are so many android phones to choose from. But there’s only one kind of iphone.
You can actually take the battery out of an android phone (and replace it yourself!) – why doesn’t apple make the iphone like this?!
I used to think that in the realm of smartphones (i.e. phones that are advanced and hi-tech) you’d eventually be down to just two players: apple with the iphone and microsoft with WinMobile phones, but now I think android will probably beat WinMobile and then you’ll have just iphone and android competing.
-Greg
it is going to climb way above 160000, it is going to stop at 300000 phones per day.
We don't learn from history do we? The year before Google cited sales numbers for Android phones that turned out to be inflated by roughly a factor of 3. Now, they're expecting us to believe they're selling 160K per day? Riiiiiight. I'm guessing it's closer to 50-60K per day. Still a solid sales rate, but I think they're tripping over their own feet in an effort not to play second fiddle to Apple.