Android phones have been in development for a very long time by major manufacturers such as Samsung, Nokia, HTC and Motorola. With the growing anticipation of the high-end features such as touch screens and improved operating system stability, phone manufacturers and the Android team expects to see a boom in sales during the holiday season. An additional benefit for Google will be increased interest in its smartphone OS; a key element when growth is lagging behind the still-strong iPhone.
The situation is overall in favor of Android since the phones launched are significantly more powerful than the iPhone and support Adobe’s new Flash update. Considering that a majority of the web content available online is in Flash. This is a major incentive for developers as well who can view and develop their content so that it continues to span the Internet and their smartphones, and acts as a bridge between the two technologies.
The recent upgrades to the Android market will also be tested as users start purchasing phones in anticipation of uploading new apps to their phones. After following a similar structure to the App Store as created by Apple, Google hopes to bring a sense of familiarity to the storefront to ensure customer retention and interest in their Android platform.
Below is a list of phones that are expected to be released on T-Mobile’s network that will have the Android OS on them:
“T-Mobile Tap
No keyboard here, the T-Mobile Tap is a touchscreen phone with a focus on Web browsing and socializing. It support email, SMS, MMS and IM, and comes with GPS, Bluetooth and a 2-megapixel camera. Users can choose between berry and midnight blue finishes.
Nokia 3711
The Nokia 3711, which will arrive late-October-ish on the T-Mobile network in a shade called sable, is an economy-friendly feature phone with 3G Web browsing, built-in GPS, support for email and IM, a 2-megapixel camera with video and Bluetooth.
The iPhone OS remains the undisputed champion of smartphone OSs’ however, this phenomenal domination has not remained unchecked, Google’s Android and new WebOS on the Pre are gaining popularity. This data is derived from AdMob’s recent survey into smartphone usage has shown some interesting results. Although iPhone remains the dominant smartphone OS and massive usage coming from the United States, there is still potential for growth in the region.
“The Apple iPhone OS’ share of the smartphone operating system worldwide market grew from 33 percent in February to 40 percent in August, AdMob found. (AdMob noted that it didn’t include the iPod Touch in this ranking because, despite running the Apple OS, it isn’t a phone.)” – AdMob survey
Although the growth in iPhone OS development is impressive, Google’s Android and the WebOS on Palm’s Pre is gaining momentum as well. As previously discussed in our blog, the potential for current boom in Google’s Android is still very relevant and is contributing to the usage of smartphones across the globe. Android’s growth has jumped from 2% to a new high of 7% within 4 months, which is a massive leap considering the ever-strong popularity of the iPhone. Still behind the iPhone by a long margin, the signs are promising in light of Android’s new SDK release and new releases of smartphones that support Android.
A surprising new entrant into the market is Palm’s WebOS for the Pre. Facing significant problems with Apple in regards to its iTunes syncing problems, it still managed to retain a rather respectable 4% market share. This is good news for Palm considering that many consumers feel that it does not live up to the comparisons made with the iPhone.
Surprisingly, the phones that are accessing these platforms are interesting to note as well, even though iPhone does lead the pack, the Pre, the HTC Dream and BlackBerry’s 8300 were also heavily utilized. The spread of phones is interesting to note considering that there seems to be equal representation from Android (HTC Dream), iPhone (Apple) and WebOS (Palm). The only phone with it’s own unique interface is the BlackBerry 8300. The BlackBerry 8300 is linked with RIM’s own branded OS, development for the BlackBerry OS has been slowed down.
“In the United States, judging by ad requests from the OS, the iPhone represented 50 percent of smartphone use, followed by RIM BlackBerrys with 14 percent of the pie and Android devices with 13 percent. In a respectable fourth place came WebOS phones, with 9 percent.” – AdMob survey
It seems that BlackBerry has captured the overall market via its unique marketing channels that offers companies integration through their email exchange servers, however, Android is not far behind along with WebOS.
Locking potentially lucrative customer base on the basis of network technology is never really conducive to the growth of mobile applications. Recently, Android’s released a new SDK (Version 1.6) that has allowed CDMA developers to access a potentially massive market of CDMA subscribers. The new update allows for Android phones to run on CDMA cell phones rather than the traditional GSM network compatible phones. This update is important when placed in the context that most Android phone manufacturers have been traditionally pushing phones that are only GSM compatible. HTC has been the biggest supplier with phones such as the Magic, Hero, Touch Pro 2, and a whole slew of variants. Although GSM networks are prevalent all over the world, the penetration of GSM networks in the technologically developed areas of the world has been surprising low. As a result, developers have been locked out of the CDMA market for quite some time. (continue reading…)
Google recently pushed out the release of a new SDK for Android (version 1.6) in September 2009, unfortunately, this left many of the traditional phones that run the Android platform fairly delayed in comparison to the projected release dates. However, there is good news for developers; the new release takes into account the varying new specifications of the new phones in terms of processor power, screen size, text-to-speech features, and a plethora of features that are standard on these phones.
The new release also deals with an improved ability to deal Web 2.0 features. There are a number of phones that plan to be released in the fourth quarter of this year with major carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. The high-end phones are coming from major manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, and Motorola. However, the biggest probable focus for many carriers will be the improved CDMA support which gives Verizon and AT&T customers the ability to access some of these high-end phones. (continue reading…)
