Android Steals #2 Slot from iPhone

Android is hot, and it’s now powering a lot of smartphones. So, it comes as no surprise that Google’s Android knocked Apple’s iPhone out of the number two slot in U.S. smartphone sales to consumers, according to a new NPD Group report.
For the first quarter, smartphones running the Android OS had 28 percent share of unit sales, second to RIM’s 36 percent share. This put the iPhone in third place with a 21 percent share.
Part of Android’s success is that it has been heavily promoted by Verizon along with other non-iPhone smartphones in buy-1-get-1-free promo to help Verizon compete against the AT&T/iPhone juggernaut. Strong sales of the Droid, Droid Eris, and Blackberry Curve via these Verizon promotions helped keep Verizon Wireless’s smartphone sales on par with AT&T in Q1, said NPD.
AT&T took a 1/3rd share of the smartphone market (32 percent), followed by Verizon Wireless (30 percent), T-Mobile (17 percent) and Sprint (15 percent).
“Recent previews of BlackBerry 6, the recently announced acquisition of Palm by HP, and the pending release of Windows Phone 7 demonstrates the industry’s willingness to make investments to address consumer demand for smartphones and other mobile devices,” said NPD exec director of industry analysis Ross Rubin. But in the future, to keep smartphone sales climbing, carriers should offer more varied data plan options, he added.
Also the continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones resulted in slightly higher prices for all mobile phones, despite an overall drop in the number of mobile phones purchased in the first quarter. The average selling price for all mobile phones in Q1 reached $88, which is a 5 percent increase from Q1 2009. Smartphone unit prices, by comparison, averaged $151 in Q1 2010, which is a 3 percent decrease over the previous year.
Source: The NPD Group
Photo: Droid via droid-phone.org