By December 2013, 798 million Android smartphones are expected to be active; Apple’s iPhone will have 294 million active units.
According to an ABI study, it believes 1.4 billion smartphones will be in use before 2014 with an annual smartphone growth rate of 44 percent in 2013. Comparatively, 2012 had a growth rate of 45 percent. ABI also foresees 20 million BlackBerry 10 phones being active, as well as 45 million active Windows Phone units.
The outcome of the aforementioned growth rate, coupled by the growth of Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10, results in a global customer market share of 57 percent for Android, 21 percent for iOS and 3 percent for Microsoft's Windows Phone. In comparison, Android dominated the global Q3 2012 market with a 72.4 percent share that was continued during Q4.
Android and iOS accounted for 92 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments during 2012's Q4. Android shipped 152.1 million smartphones, while the iPhone shipped 47.8 million units. During 2012, 1.6 billion phones were shipped, of which 700 million were smartphones.
During September 2012, Android reached over 500 million activations, with 1.3 million Android-powered devices being activated per day. Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt believes 2013 will see that figure exceed the 1 billion mark.
"2013 should be seen as relative success for both Microsoft and BlackBerry," said analyst Aapo Markkanen. "For the end of the year, we expect there to be 45 million Windows Phone handsets in use, with BlackBerry 10 holding an installed base of close to 20 million. Microsoft will also have 5.5 million Windows-powered tablets to show for it."
Markkanen believes that tablets will experience growth of 125 percent, which will see 268 million tablets being active at year-end. The analyst expects 62 percent to be the iPad, with 28 percent of tablets having Android installed.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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killabanks competition is a good thing but windows phone and bb don't really compel me to switch from android maybe with steady updates... windows doesnt have all the apps and bb is an android emulator... why dont i just get the real dealReply -
JOSHSKORN esreverI'd like to see more windows phone and blackberries.I think you'll see Windows phones as soon as they can run Crysis. Otherwise, there's no reason to get a Windows phone right now. For Windows phones to take off, they need to do just as much as iPhones and Android phones can do. There aren't nearly as many apps available for them, yet. I bet that'll change when Windows 9 comes out...just my guess.Reply -
JOSHSKORNI think you'll see Windows phones as soon as they can run Crysis. Otherwise, there's no reason to get a Windows phone right now. For Windows phones to take off, they need to do just as much as iPhones and Android phones can do. There aren't nearly as many apps available for them, yet. I bet that'll change when Windows 9 comes out...just my guess.Reply
The windows phone is the smoothest OS ever, ive been using it for a month now, it can do everything an iPhone and any android can do and more, and has every app ive ever needed for it, the number of apps doesnt matter, its the quality, and especially with the Nokia apps, Windows Phone store wins -
virtualban JOSHSKORNI think you'll see Windows phones as soon as they can run Crysis. Otherwise, there's no reason to get a Windows phone right now. For Windows phones to take off, they need to do just as much as iPhones and Android phones can do. There aren't nearly as many apps available for them, yet. I bet that'll change when Windows 9 comes out...just my guess.On running Crysis (and games in general), I would rather see the Google glass project and Virtual Reality gaming with that power.Reply -
amdwilliam1985 Windows Phone does not have pull down notification bar.Reply
iOS does, but it sucks.
I can't live without my notification bar anymore, it's the single most used feature I have on my SGS3 and Nexus 7. I was looking at Lumia 920. But no notification bar, no deal. -
I can't believe how many people are willing to sacrifice their security & privacy for the sake of having a new toy. Don't they pay attention to those TOS one must agree to before they can load a new game or app? EVERY app seems to make you agree to let it have 100% access to settings, records. files. passwords etc. I will NOT use my android for anything other than gaming until there is far better security than what there isn't now. As for the rest of the sheep who're busy giving away all their financial data et all, they're getting what they deserve.Reply
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Steelseries amdwilliam1985Windows Phone does not have pull down notification bar.iOS does, but it sucks.I can't live without my notification bar anymore, it's the single most used feature I have on my SGS3 and Nexus 7. I was looking at Lumia 920. But no notification bar, no deal.Reply
The iOS and ICS notification centers are the same
Relax the Apple hate for long enough to stay unbiased -
blazorthon Logikal1I can't believe how many people are willing to sacrifice their security & privacy for the sake of having a new toy. Don't they pay attention to those TOS one must agree to before they can load a new game or app? EVERY app seems to make you agree to let it have 100% access to settings, records. files. passwords etc. I will NOT use my android for anything other than gaming until there is far better security than what there isn't now. As for the rest of the sheep who're busy giving away all their financial data et all, they're getting what they deserve.Reply
Minecraft PE Android app permissions: Write to USB storage (saving game data needs this). Network access (multiplayer and updating features need this). Control vibration (vibrate on certain actions such as breaking a block, getting hit, etc.). Test access to protected storage (test for a type of USB storage not yet used in Android, may be used for a modding feature or sharing game data with other people and such things).
No unnecessary access to settings, records, files, passwords, etc.
Colornote (a notepad program) app permissions:same as above, but it also can run at system startup and can prevent the device from sleeping when in use.
No unnecessary access to settings, records, files, passwords, etc.
I could go on, but I think that my point is made. Any app requesting permission that it doesn't need for the job that you want to do is probably not an app that you should have unless there are no alternatives (not very common). Furthermore, iOS and other platforms aren't any better about this at all.
Also, since apps have to ask YOU to get permission for such things, I'd say that security is quite good since you are in control of what you allow your apps to do. If you find an app to be suspect due to requesting unnecessary permissions, then simply don't download that app. Anyone giving away their info and whatnot by not looking at the permissions of an app before downloading may deserve what they get, but that sort of situation is easily avoidable in the context of Android app permissions. Do iOS and other mobile OS competitors even tell you what their apps have permission to do?