Apple iPhone vs. Google Android: Tracking the Numbers

During Steve Jobs’ latest keynote address, he asserted that recent figures in the Google Android vs. Apple iOS debate may have been untrue. Jobs thought his “friends” (i.e. Google) were adding ‘upgrades’ as part of their new activation figures. With that, Google threw down the gauntlet and denied Jobs’ assertion. So which market share figures and solutions providers really trust? Read on and find out…

At Apple’s Fall 2010 event, Steve Jobs put daily Apple iPhone activation figures at 230,000, and made a big deal of the fact Apple wasn’t counting upgraded activations. Because of that, Jobs claimed Apple is the leader in phone activations. Google’s Eric Schmidt pegged July 2010 figures at 200,000 new activations a day and rising, which is the figure Jobs said was bunk.

Still, Google defends its figures. The search giant contacted CNN’s Tech Fortune, noting the Android figures were new activations, and they only included activations that contained “Google Services.” In other words, some Android devices lacking Google Services may not be reflected in the figures.

Worth a Look

So which figures can you trust? It makes sense to check in with NetMarketShare.com, which does a solid job tracking fluctuating numbers in this volatile market. NetMarketShare says iOS devices had 1.13% browser share in August 2010. Android checked in at a scant 0.20% and Linux — the desktop operating system as a whole — at a mere 0.85%.

When figures like this come in, “activations” don’t really matter, since this is cut and dry no-bones about it. These figures include ‘non-activated’ devices like iPod Touches, iPads, Android tablets and more.

Here’s a few more numbers worth crunching. Since November 2009 (the launch of the Motorola Droid, and arguably, the popularization of the Android OS):

Even with Google’s Android OS proliferating itself on any device that will have it, Apple still has a commanding lead, and if the trends continue, Apple will maintain that lead.

No one can predict what Google will do with Android next, but despite all the excitement, buzz and hype over Android’s success, there’s stil clearly a leader, and it’s Apple.

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