Can Android Take Over the iPhone?

The technological behemoths Apple and Google have been in a long and hotly contested battle for the mobile landscape however is the Android platform finally ready to muscle in on the iPhone's coveted territory?

Financials

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Google's Android has made enormous strides in the last financial year selling 64.1% of all mobile devices sold, compared to iPhone’s more modest 18.8%. However this apparent market dominance is not as skewed as it seems. Despite the Android platform's gains, Apple continues to control a large share of the ownership market with profits coming in not only from device sales but from their lucrative "App Store" platform.

Google's Android platform is often paired with contracts and thus does not receive any profit from direct device sales. In order to be making the same level of profits Google Android would need to outsell Apple iPhone by 30:1 – and they are not even close to that. Market penetration at the moment stands at 2:1 in Android’s favour, but the usual circumstance of the market leader being the top performer does not hold true - in terms of pure profits the iPhone remains firmly at the head.

App Stores
Another factor in the iPhone’s favour is the wide variety of apps available for customers; as of July 2012 there were a massive 700 000 apps available for iPhone, of which a quarter are free; Android had a lesser, but still impressive 480 000, with approximately half available for no charge with advertising.

However, this is not as big a plus for the iPhone as might be thought; in the top ten app categories the offerings from both are more or less equal. Previously Android was ahead on map & SatNav provision, but the iPhone 5 is reportedly going to claim an equal, if not superior position in this field.

Android still leads as far as social networking is concerned, with innovations such as the ‘Friends Stream’ feature which allows a user to quickly and easily monitor posts on social networks without needing to actually open up the app; and notifications from Facebook and Twitter appearing on-screen to keep the user up-to-date in real time.

IPhone users generally have to access social networking sites via third party apps which have to be open in order to updates and notifications to flow. Apps for children are supplied best on the iPhone, by quite a large margin. Developers are also more reluctant to develop for the Android platform mainly due to the iPhone's app store dominance. When budgets are tight or resources are low then the most obvious option is to go where the paying audience can be found - iPhone's App Store.

Upgrades
Brand loyalty is Apple’s best support and this trend is followed in the iPhone too. In the UK 84% of iPhone users plan on staying with iPhone for their next Smartphone purchase, as compared to only 60% of users who plan to stay with Android for their next purchase. In the US, where the iPhone was born this is even more stark; 94% of iPhone users plan to stay faithful to the brand for their next purchase.

There has been much debate as to whether this loyalty is actually the result of being locked into one device due to App Store purchases. Unfortunately for the Android platform surveys have suggested 47% of Android users will stay true to Google but 42% plan to try an iPhone next. Overall, it would appear that the iPhone is winning against the more disorganised, youthful Android.

However Google are working hard on optimizing the Android system; given the huge success of Google itself it would be extremely unwise to write them off. If they continue to improve services and make such large gains in the mobile device arena they may well be able to wrest iPhone’s laurels from them before too long.

Sources: forbes.com, ipod.about.com, mnsbc.msn.com


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Faizan Ahmad

About the Author:

This article is posted by Faizan who is the Author and Founder of TechSenser. He is a Professional Blogger from India and a passionate writer about Technology, Gadgets, How-to-Guides, etc. You can connect him on Google+.