Awareness of the Android mobile operating system is rising, and users have a lot in common with iPhone fans, according to research from comScore and Compete.
comScore found that 37% of US mobile users had heard of Android in November 2009. This was up from 22% as recently as August, likely due to the Verizon Droid ad campaign. And 17% of mobile users in the market for a new smartphone in the next three months planned to buy an Android phone, compared with 20% who would pick up an iPhone.
Usage patterns for Android and iPhone owners were very similar, and tended to differ from those of other smartphone users as well as from those of feature phone owners. There was a notable gap in e-mail usage, with Android users far behind iPhone owners, but mobile media consumption and browser and app usage tracked very closely.
Compete also found similarities when it asked smartphone users how much time they spent with their phone’s Web browser versus mobile applications. The majority of iPhone users, along with 44% of Android users, spent at least one-half of their time with applications rather than a browser. Only about one-fifth of other smartphone users said the same.
“Applications have been vital to the iPhone’s success and Android devices are proving to be no different thus far,” wrote Elaine Sanfilippo on the Compete blog.
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Check out today’s other article, “User Content Creation Around the World.”