Android is fast becoming a mobile platform to be reckoned with, according to longitudinal data from ChangeWave Research.
Between September and December 2009, the proportion of future smartphone buyers who planned to purchase an Android-based phone jumped from 6% to 21%, helped no doubt by the much-hyped launch of Motorola’s Droid handset. This made the Google operating system more popular among buyers than BlackBerrys.
Future smartphone owners who favored the iPhone dropped over the same period, though at 28% of respondents it remained the top choice for those looking to get a new advanced handset.
Though just 4% of respondents with a smartphone reported having an Android device, that was up 3 percentage points since September. comScore also found an increase in Android awareness and desire between August and November 2009, though the researcher found only 12% of people planning to buy a smartphone wanted an Android device.
Overall smartphone ownership continued a steady march upward, according to the ChangeWave study, with 42% of US consumers reporting they had a smartphone in December 2009. That was a 10-percentage-point increase over the previous year. In addition, nearly 13% of respondents planned to purchase a smartphone in the next 90 days.
ChangeWave reported that current owners were most satisfied with iPhones, followed by Android-based phones. The level of user happiness with other smartphones was significantly lower. That’s not all iPhone and Android users have in common, either—they share many of the same mobile content habits as well.
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Check out today’s other article, “Everywhere-Access Key to Paid Music Models.”