Mobile Device Market Heats Up

By Stephanie Jordan
in

This week Google introduced its Nexus One smartphone. With the goal to offer mobile devices independent of carriers, Google also announced its hosted Web store designed for customers to connect Google’s online users with select Android devices: Nexus One being the first. Google describes its offering as, “a convergence point for mobile technology, apps and the Internet.”

Nexus One is available to purchase without operator service or with service from T-Mobile USA. The company expects to add more operators and more devices in the near future, like Verizon and Vodafone in Europe. Google has aspirations to “improve the rate and pace of innovation in mobile phones” and hopes that the Nexus One is the first step, calling it a “superphone”.

Also climbing on the Android bandwagon is AT&T with its announcement yesterday that it will sell Palm phones with the Android operating system. The company says it will offer five Android devices from Dell, HTC and Motorola in the first half of the year.

San Francisco-based Flurry Analytics, which monitors mobile applications, recently evaluated download growth driven by the Christmas holiday across Apple and Android devices. While Android devices are still relatively new, Android showed growth during the holiday season, with the Motorola Droid as the leading device. Flurry reports:

  • In December, Droid application downloads increased by 93 percent over previous Fridays.
  • Droid accounted for 48 percent of download volume across the leading Android handsets (Droid, myTouch 3G, G1 and HTC Hero).
  • Android Market Growth increased by over 20 percent in December over November.

While Android appears to be gaining momentum and has been said to be the closest competitor to Apple’s iPhone, customer acceptance of the Google hosted Web store and its approach to allow customers to purchase a phone without operator service or calling plan remains to be seen. 

Published January 7, 2010