WASHINGTON — At least 65,000 mobile phones powered by Google's Android operating system are being shipped every day, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said Thursday. Schmidt, speaking at Google's annual shareholder meeting at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, said the open-source Android system is now being used on 34 mobile devices in 49 countries. "It looks like Android is going to be either the number one or number two player" in the mobile phone market, he said at the meeting which was streamed live on Google-owned YouTube. Google makes its Android software available to handset manufacturers and also sells its own smartphone, the Nexus One. "Our partners are shipping about 65,000 Android handsets per day but if you check the blogosphere you'll discover there are some reports that that number might be quite low," Schmidt said. Sales of more than two million Android handsets a month would approach those of Google rival Apple, which reported sales of 8.75 million iPhones last quarter. According to industry research firm NPD, US sales of smartphones running Android actually surged past those of Apple in the first quarter of the year. Android-powered smartphones accounted for 28 percent of US consumer sales compared with 21 percent for the iPhone, NPD said. Canada's Research in Motion, maker of the popular Blackberry, retained the top spot with 36 percent of US smartphone sales in the quarter. "Our strategy is very different from everybody else's," Schmidt said of Android. "We license our code for free, so that's really pretty revolutionary. "We're trying to build an entire ecosystem of openness, the inverse of the other guys," he said, without mentioning Apple by name. Google co-founder Larry Page, who also attended the meeting, said the strategy of getting more devices running Android provides benefits "through more (Google) searches and other things that we do. "I think you'll see that as those products mature we'll figure out how to make more money from them," Page said. Schmidt agreed, saying "while it's true that we're very happy to give away Android, the applications and the services that can be provided on a very large, very broad framework can be enormously valuable over the next five or 10 years." Source AFP News Over the last 6 month Verizon Wireless, Wirefly EBay Amazon and Vodafone have been the major players in The Smartphone market. We belive that after Google stops selling phones the amount of networks will Increase.
The Grande experiment is changing. It is no surprise to those who follow tech. Google moving from search to selling phones was a leap to say the least. Most business folks batted a eye when they heard the search giant was going to sell phones. It now appears Google is seeing what others foreseen and have decided to change the way users buy Nexus One Phones. The online Nexus One Store will be closed and the Smartphone will be made available through retail outlets and Vodafone in Europe. Would be buyers would get support online or from the network they made the purchase from.
“Nexus One changes in availability”
5/14/2010 09:30:00 AM
“We launched Nexus One in January with two goals in mind: to introduce a beacon of innovation among Android handsets, and to make it quick and easy for people to buy an Android phone. We’re very happy with the adoption of Android in general, and the innovation delivered through Nexus One. Already, a lot of the innovation that went into creating Nexus One has found its way into numerous Android handsets, like the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint and the Verizon Droid Incredible by HTC.
But, as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others. While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.
So today we’re announcing the following changes:
More retail availability. As we make Nexus One available in more countries we’ll follow the same model we’ve adopted in Europe, where we're working with partners to offer Nexus One to consumers through existing retail channels. We’ll shift to a similar model globally.
From retail to viewing. Once we have increased the availability of Nexus One devices in stores, we'll stop selling handsets via the web store, and will instead use it as an online store window to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally.
Innovation requires constant iteration. We believe that the changes we're announcing today will help get more phones to more people quicker, which is good for the entire Android ecosystem: users, partners and also Google.
Posted by Andy Rubin, VP, Engineering”
Source: Nexus Cell Phone VIA Google Blog. It should be pointed out that this move has nothing to do with Nexus One. The Phone is one of the Best Rated Smartphone's. It has also been seen in the wild running Android Froyo 2.2 OS. The Nexus One is developers preferred phone and will receive all the major OS update first. So don't think for a second the G Phone is going away. In fact this move could put the Smartphone in even more pockets.
Amazing how fast Android is steaming down the track catching all the other Smartphone Operating Systems.
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Android operating system (OS) continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company. NPD's wireless market research reveals that based on unit sales to consumers last quarter the Android operating system moved into second position at 28 percent behind RIM's OS (36 percent) and ahead of Apple's OS (21 percent).
"As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share"
"As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones."
Strong sales of the Droid, Droid Eris, and Blackberry Curve via these promotions helped keep Verizon Wireless smartphone sales on par with AT&T in Q1. According to NPD's Mobile Phone Track, smartphone sales at AT&T comprised nearly a third of the entire smartphone market (32 percent), followed by Verizon Wireless (30 percent), T-Mobile (17 percent) and Sprint (15 percent).
"Recent previews of BlackBerry 6, the recently announced acquisition of Palm by HP, and the pending release of Windows Phone 7 demonstrates the industry's willingness to make investments to address consumer demand for smartphones and other mobile devices," Rubin said. "Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future."
The continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones resulted in slightly higher prices for all mobile phones, despite an overall drop in the number of mobile phones purchased in the first quarter. The average selling price for all mobile phones in Q1 reached $88, which is a 5 percent increase from Q1 2009. Smartphone unit prices, by comparison, averaged $151 in Q1 2010, which is a 3 percent decrease over the previous year.
Methodology: The NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys each month. Surveys are based on a nationally balanced and demographically-representative sample, and results are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers. Note: Sales figures do not include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales.
