More Android Phones To Be Sold Than iPhones By 2012

A new report published by Informa Telecoms and Media concludes that sales of Android smartphones are likely to exceed sales of iPhones as early as 2012.

The market share of smartphones in general is expected to increase substantially as the prices of smartphones like Acer's E1 fall below £50. 

By 2013 according to the report, nearly 2 out of every 5 phones sold are expected to be smartphones while sales of mobile phones are set to decline by 10 percent in 2010, while smartphones will grow by more than a third.

Overall, because of their openess (and absence of licenses), Android, LiMo and Symbian platforms are expected to thrive when compared to the likes of Palm, Apple, Microsoft and RIM. But Microsoft's own Windows platform on the desktop front has shown us how markets can sometimes defy logic.

It wouldn't be surprising that Android surpasses iPhone sales by 2012. After all, only a few millions of them have been sold worldwide and we're expecting the Android trickle to become a stream by the end of the year. 

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However, and this is in our opinion a more important facet, Apple still has the upper hand when it comes to Average User Revenue Per license. 

We suspect that Apple gets around £10 or more per month per user in terms of revenues derived from hardware sales, sales of iTunes tracks, Applications, phone calls made and other services. This is several magnitude more than anything other manufacturers are making right now.

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Our Comments

Another report by Net Applications showed that Android is following the footsteps of the iPhone, getting roughly the same share of the mobile market than the iPhone during the first quarter after its launch. The iPhone currently owns more than two thirds of the mobile browsing market followed by Java ME,  Windows Mobile and Android, which has less than a tenth of Apple's share.

Related Links

Android to overtake iPhone OS by 2012

(Geek)

Open platforms to be key for smartphone vendors

(ZDnet)

Report: Android sales to outstrip iPhone's by 2012

(ZDNet)

Will Android follow the iPhone's web success?

(ITPro)

Shake-up seen for smartphone OS market 

(EETimes)

Mobile software battle increasingly crowded

(Reuters)

Android sales to outstrip iPhone by '12?

(CNet)