No longer the platform of the 1%, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now found on nearly 5% (4.9%) of Android devices, according to the latest Android Platform Versions Chart. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still found on the most devices by far, with 64.4% of Android devices running the previous version of Android. These charts are [...]]]>

No longer the platform of the 1%, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now found on nearly 5% (4.9%) of Android devices, according to the latest Android Platform Versions Chart. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still found on the most devices by far, with 64.4% of Android devices running the previous version of Android. These charts are based on the number of devices that have accessed the Google Play Store over the past 14 days, giving a fairly good estimate of the breakdown of devices in the general population.

Still, with Ice Cream Sandwich now six months old, and Jelly Bean set to be unveiled later this year, we’re a bit disappointed that Android 4 is not available on more devices. The update to Android 4 is the greatest improvement yet in the Android OS, meaning it has taken OEMs significantly longer to push out updates to their devices.

With an update for the best selling Android device, the Galaxy S II, hitting the airwaves around the world recently (coming soon to the U.S.), we should see this number creep up and break the 10% mark shortly. Are you one of the lucky 5% to be on the latest and greatest version of Android? One of the 0.3% still on Cupcake?!

Android has finally broken the 50% market share hurdle, according to a quarterly report from comScore. Android continued its phenomenal level of growth for the quarter ending in March 2012, climbing 3.7% since the December survey. Android’s growth continues to come at the expense of RIM and Microsoft, who saw declines of 3.7% [...]]]>

Android has finally broken the 50% market share hurdle, according to a quarterly report from comScore. Android continued its phenomenal level of growth for the quarter ending in March 2012, climbing 3.7% since the December survey. Android’s growth continues to come at the expense of RIM and Microsoft, who saw declines of 3.7% and 0.8% respectively. Apple’s iOS gained just over 1% to make up 30.7% of the U.S. market.

Android’s biggest challengers in the future will be Microsoft and RIM, who will both release major new platform revisions in the fall. With consumer sentiment increasingly against these companies, however, it appears the smartphone OS market will be a two-trick pony for at least the foreseeable future.

Can Android break 60% in coming months, or do you think we’ll start to see the market plateau after too long? Sound off in the comments.

The T-Mobile HTC One S is now available T-Mobile. If you’re looking to save a little cash, trade-in an old smartphone and T-Mobile will give you a guaranteed $100 when you purchase the HTC One S (or any other 4G phone). If you bring in an iPhone, T-Mobile will double the offer and reward you [...]]]>

The T-Mobile HTC One S is now available T-Mobile. If you’re looking to save a little cash, trade-in an old smartphone and T-Mobile will give you a guaranteed $100 when you purchase the HTC One S (or any other 4G phone). If you bring in an iPhone, T-Mobile will double the offer and reward you with a guaranteed $200. If T-Mobile deems your trade-in is worth more, they will reimburse you accordingly.

Qualifying smartphones include any Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, or Symbian 9.0+ device and customers will be required to sign up for a new two year contract which is subject to a $300 early termination fee. Unfortunately, the cash back offer isn’t immediate. To receive your “cash” you must mail in the trade-in handset, trade-in voucher, and proof of purchase. Once all your paper work is processed, T-Mobile will mail you a pre-paid debit card within 60 days.

If you’re looking to buy a new phone or had plans to pick up the HTC One S today, T-Mobile’s Magenta Deal Days is a great way to save some extra cash. Anyone trading in an iPhone for the HTC One S will essentially get the phone for free after the $50 mail-in rebate and trade-in reimbursement are processed.

Are any of you planning on purchasing the HTC One S? Will you take advantage of the Magenta Deal Days offer or will you try to recuperate a little more cash by listing your phone on CraigsList or eBay?

Before you head down to your local T-Mobile store, check out our HTC One S review to see if it is the right phone for you.

HTC fans hoping for a new Android phone equipped with a QWERTY keyboard will be extremely disappointed to learn that HTC is moving away from producing new devices with physical keyboards. HTC creative director Claude Zellweger made the announcement in Seattle during a press event, stating “As a company the QWERTY keyboard we’re moving away [...]]]>

HTC fans hoping for a new Android phone equipped with a QWERTY keyboard will be extremely disappointed to learn that HTC is moving away from producing new devices with physical keyboards. HTC creative director Claude Zellweger made the announcement in Seattle during a press event, stating “As a company the QWERTY keyboard we’re moving away from in general.” Zellweger goes on to say “putting too much effort into that [QWERTY phones] would take away from our devices.” Rather than spending extra time on new hardware designs for QWERTY equipped devices, HTC will focus on improving its on-screen keypad software to consumers.

Even though most of the popular smartphones released in the past few years have not had physical keyboards, QWERTY devices have played a key role in the development of Android and its growth since the very beginning. Couple today’s news with HTC’s revelation from yesterday that they scrapped  plans to release 3,000+ mAh battery-toting devices and you have  a recipe which will produce some angry and frustrated HTC fans.

Having owned three QWERTY phones made by HTC, I am personally disappointed to hear that there may never be a true T-Mobile G3 device to replace my G2. Do you think HTC is making the right decision by abandoning development of new QWERTY devices?

Update: It seems we jumped to conclusions a bit too early. Claude has clarified a few things in another statement, acknowledging that there is a “diehard community” waiting for new QWERTY devices, but HTC is waiting for a few technologies to mature before they test the waters again.

I think the market's there, the sort of the diehard community, they keep wanting it, there's definitely still a market for it. We feel that putting too much effort in that would take away from our main focus, being a whole-screen device. I think people recognize the trade-off with size. There are a couple of technologies that we are waiting to sort of mature that could make a big bump suddenly in the evolution, that we are looking at very closely.Claude Zellweger

Time and time again, Android’s demise is spelled out by bloggers all across the globe. Whether it’s because of a lack of revenue generated by Android itself, fragmentation, a new iPhone or a patent lawsuit, someone, somewhere is always predicting Android is on the way out. Well if you haven’t noticed, that’s far from reality. [...]]]>

Time and time again, Android’s demise is spelled out by bloggers all across the globe. Whether it’s because of a lack of revenue generated by Android itself, fragmentation, a new iPhone or a patent lawsuit, someone, somewhere is always predicting Android is on the way out. Well if you haven’t noticed, that’s far from reality. Android is doing just fine. But it may not always be the super behemoth we’ve come to know in the past two years.

The mobile technology industry could see some major changes as 2012 plays out, all of them affecting Android in one way or another.

Nokia Lumia, and what it means for Windows Phone

With the Nokia Lumia 900 available for free to new AT&T customers, with a two-year contract, set for release on April 8th, Microsoft may just finally see a substantial gain in smartphone marketshare.

Until the Lumia 900, one of the most obvious things holding Windows Phone back was the devices the OS was being slapped on. They were essentially all older Android phones. There hadn’t been a single Windows Phone device that didn’t have a better Android equivalent. And then came the Lumia 900.

The Lumia 900 has everything needed to become a blockbuster hit. The internals are good enough to last the average smartphone user a couple years, the display is top notch, it has 4G LTE and it looks absolutely fantastic.

It’s totally unique in design. The Lumia screams for attention. It’s how a smartphone should look in 2012. Bright, bold, masterfully crafted. Windows Phone fits the Lumia 900 like a glove. And it’s available to new AT&T customers for free on contract. If you’re upgrading to the Lumia 900, it’s still only $99.

Nokia is going to bet the farm on the Lumia 900. AT&T will be pushing the Lumia, Microsoft will be pushing the Lumia and Nokia will likely drop everything they have into ads and marketing campaigns for the Lumia 900.

When the Lumia 900 launches on April 8th, and you can find it sitting among the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S, for less than half the cost of either of those devices, consumers will finally struggle to pick between three operating systems. Not just two. And someone will lose marketshare to it. The question then becomes, who?

The iPhone is still on the rise, and that’s just the 4S

No matter how the readers of this site view Apple’s iPhone, there is absolutely no denying it is the most popular phone in the entire world. The 4S has shattered previous sales records held by earlier models of the iPhone, and Apple is far from done.

According to some recent reports available online, the iPhone is outselling all other smartphones combined on both Sprint and AT&T, and is neck-and-neck with all Android phones combined at Verizon. It’s been this way since October of 2011. That’s half a year of iPhone domination, with no end in sight. And its design dates back to nearly two years ago.

Apple is set to release the iPhone 5 this year, sometime between June and October. Not much is known about the iPhone 5, but rumors indicate that it might see some sort of radical redesign and feature access to the three largest carrier’s LTE networks in the US. Whatever it ends up looking like, and whether it’s LTE enabled or not, it’s still going to be an iPhone. And realistically, that’s all it needs to keep selling well. Although a new design and LTE access will definitely help.

With AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all selling the iPhone 5, there’s reason to believe Apple will take back some of the market share it once lost to Android. Android certainly won’t just shrivel up and die, but one way or another there’s going to be a shift in the numbers.

RIM for sale?

If Microsoft and Apple spend all of 2012 gobbling up market share in the US, will Android simply see a sharp decline? I believe there will be a decline, but it will be closer to a leveling out than a sharp decline. There’s still plenty of ways for Android to build and maintain market share, like feature phone users turned smart phone users, and the business sector who previously relied on BlackBerry devices. Recent studies do show the adoption rate of iOS devices in corporate America skyrocketing, but Android could easily jump to the head of pack with one simple move: buying RIM.

There’s no way RIM is going to survive the next two years at the absolute most. RIM is hemorrhaging money and losing market share on a daily basis. The next big thing from the company isn’t due out until the tail end of 2012. And by then, we’ll see the next iPhone, next generation Windows Phones and a new breed of Android phones as well. So what is the company going to do? If they’re smart, they’ll sell now while they might still be worth something.

RIM still owns some good software. They’ve talked about licensing it in the past, but it may be time to just get rid of it. I doubt Apple would be interested, and Microsoft has their own enterprise solutions. Google’s the only one I could see being really interested.

Imagine a line of Android devices built around everything Google would acquire from buying RIM. Imagine being able to merge your BlackBerry Messenger account with Google Talk. Or Google Talk with all the best parts of BlackBerry Messenger thrown in.

It could work. Giving Google not only access to the most well known tools in business, but access to some great consumer software as well. Whatever RIM ultimately decides to do, it will undoubtedly impact every industry the company has touched on. I can’t help but wonder just how involved Google will be.

Between Amazon and Google, something’s got to give

The Android tablet market is sad to say the least. From where things are sitting right now, it looks like Apple has turned the tablet industry into another iPod scenario. But there’s still hope yet. Amazon proved they can move some hardware with the Kindle Fire, and Google is looking to get into the tablet game themselves. Could this spell success for Android tablets in 2012?

iPad sales didn’t exactly suffer in 2011. In fact, they were quite the opposite. That doesn’t mean other tablets didn’t do well either. The Kindle Fire was a huge success. Amazon sold a boat load of Fires during the holiday season, and they certainly aren’t done yet.

2012 will see the introduction of Amazon’s newest tablets. A larger Kindle Fire that’s priced accordingly could make a killing in 2012. The 7-inch Kindle Fire sold well for just $200, but a $300, or even $250, 10-inch Fire could possibly sell even better. If there are two things consumers care about when purchasing things like electronics, it’s the name and price. Amazon has both going for them. Look for another big year for Amazon in 2012.

Google isn’t done trying to make their mark on the tablet market either. During CES, we saw the unveiling of a Tegra 3 powered 7-inch tablet from ASUS that was marked as coming to retail at about $250. There’s good reason to believe that very tablet will end up coming to market at around $150(!), with Google Nexus branding.

Between a new Kindle Fire, Google’s tablet, Motorola and Samsung’s continued tablet efforts, Android just might see a considerable gain in tablet market share this year.

Galaxy S III, Razr 2, G4X, EVO One

Android has plenty of momentum pushing the platform forward. Google is constantly working to improve the software side of Android, and manufacturers are always working on new hardware.

We already know the Samsung Galaxy S III is almost upon us, but what other kinds of Android devices can we expect in 2012? The Motorola RAZR, T-Mobile G2x and HTC EVO will all see follow up devices. And they’ll probably all be some of the most popular Android devices launched in 2012 too.

There’s also another Nexus coming in 2012, a million Galaxy S III variants and some more DROIDs in the works at the very least. There’s still another trade show to get through before summer is underway, which always ends up revealing some of the hottest Android handsets of the year, and we can’t even begin to predict all the Android handsets that will leak from now until Q3 2012.

There’s going to be a lot of awesome Android phones coming out this year, and as usual, they’re guaranteed to be on the bleeding edge of technology.

Wrap up

Of course, I’m no psychic. For all I know Android could totally bomb, or see another huge gain in market share and leave the competition in ashes. But I don’t think either of those will happen.

I really don’t think 2012 is going to play out like 2011 did for Android. Android exploded in 2011. For the most part, it totally dominated the competition. 2012 is going to be the year where things start to level out. Windows Phone gains in popularity, iOS takes a little bit of its pie back and Android comfortably settles in as one of the top operating systems in the world.

What do you think will happen to Android in 2012? What kinds of major industry events will shape the future of Google’s mobile operating system? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.

Image via LadyDragonflyCC – BDay Weekend, Holland, Michigan with Creative Commons

Through a filing with the California Federal Court, Apple claims that Samsung is knowingly infringing on Apple’s patents since they met with Samsung back in 2010 to discuss the matter. The documents show that Apple met with Samsung on four separate occasions and was shown a presentation named “Samsung’s Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones” [...]]]>

Through a filing with the California Federal Court, Apple claims that Samsung is knowingly infringing on Apple’s patents since they met with Samsung back in 2010 to discuss the matter. The documents show that Apple met with Samsung on four separate occasions and was shown a presentation named “Samsung’s Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones” which detailed Samsung’s infringements of patents ’002 and ’381 along with several others.

On or about August 4, 2010, Apple representatives met with Samsung in Korea and showed a presentation titled 'Samsung's Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones.' This presentation emphasized Samsung's copying of the iPhone and identified two of the patents-in-suit (the '002 and '381 patents), giving Samsung actual notice of at least these patents, and many more.

On or about August 26, 2010, Apple sent Samsung an electronic archive file containing claim charts further illustrating Samsung's infringement of Apple patents. A presentation document that accompanied these claim charts identified the '002 and '381 patents as two patents that Samsung products infringed, and it substantiated these allegations with text from the patents and photographs of Samsung devices illustrating infringing functionality. Apple later presented these slides to Samsung at a meeting in Cupertino, California on or about September 9, 2010.Apple

Apple is hoping that this new information will persuade the courts to rule in Apple’s favor in their attacks against Samsung, but we have a feeling that it won’t be that simple. Since Samsung didn’t negotiate a deal with Apple and produced new phones based on the same technology, we assume Samsung was not convinced that their devices actually infringed on Apple’s patents.

The good news is that back in 2010 Apple was willing to negotiate with Samsung about possible patent infringements. This suggests that there is still hope that some of the patent battles between Apple and other Android OEMs may be settled out of court without the need for the courts to issue import bans on the devices we love.

Does this new information change your opinion about Apple and its approach to protecting its intellectual property?

Last week AllThingsD broke the story that Google was hiring most of the team from Milk, a startup founded by Kevin Rose that was working on iPhone apps. Milk’s first project was an app called Oink that let users rate items, but that service was shut down last week, likely because [...]]]>

Last week AllThingsD broke the story that Google was hiring most of the team from Milk, a startup founded by Kevin Rose that was working on iPhone apps. Milk’s first project was an app called Oink that let users rate items, but that service was shut down last week, likely because of the talks with Google.

Kevin Rose was the founder of Digg, and co-founder of Revision3 and Pownce. Some people speculated that Kevin Rose would help improve Google+, but he later revealed he was joining the Android team.

We still don’t know Kevin’s exact role on the Android team, but Matt Lynley of Business Insider thinks he will be helping with design. They learned that Google only hired the product team from Milk, while the engineers on the team were not offered jobs. Former Milk employee Amber Reyngoudt told Business Insider that Google was “looking to add design talent.”

I never had the chance to play with Oink, but some people described it as “easily one of the best-looking apps on the iPhone.” Check out the YouTube trailer below to get a feel of what it looked like.

We have been pretty happy with the latest changes in Android’s look, since Google hired Matias Duarte as Senior Director of Android User Experience. However, it’s still easy to point out some native Google apps that need updating, so maybe the Milk team can help with that.

What parts of Android do you think need design help?

Update: Google employee Dan Morrill confirms that Kevin Rose is working on Google+. It appears Business Insider read too much into their conversations with former Milk employees.

The Q4 2011 results are in, and it paints a potentially bleak picture for Android. Looking in depth at the numbers provided by AT&T and Verizon, Apple sold about 3 times as many iPhones as all Android handsets combined in the quarter. This could simply be a fluke, as Apple released the iPhone 4S in [...]]]>

The Q4 2011 results are in, and it paints a potentially bleak picture for Android. Looking in depth at the numbers provided by AT&T and Verizon, Apple sold about 3 times as many iPhones as all Android handsets combined in the quarter. This could simply be a fluke, as Apple released the iPhone 4S in the quarter, and Apple’s sales tend to spike in the few months after a device is released.

There are certainly some positive signs for Android in the Q4 data; the percentage of new smartphone buyers in the United States last quarter choosing Android over iPhone was 57% to Apple’s 34%, according to the NPD. Samsung sold over 300 million phones last year, with a good chunk of those being Android smartphones, and manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, and Motorola are betting the farm on Google’s operating system.

Still, the potential for danger is there, and unless things take a turn in 2012 and 2013, then iOS may once again overtake Android as the leading smartphone platform.

The Paradox of Choice: Why too much of a good thing is not a great thing

Though the fluke effect certainly could play a role, there is at least one other explanation that could be driving sales away from Android; a phenomenon explained by Dr. Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice. If you’ve walked into any carrier store recently, you’ve certainly experienced the abundance of choices available in choosing Android smartphones.

Handset makers and carriers have gotten a bit carried away with the sheer number of devices being released, and there are simply too many Android options for consumers to make an educated decision as to which smartphone is going to end up in their pockets.

According to Dr. Schwartz, when individuals are presented with more and more choices, the negatives associated with choosing (increased time to make a decision, increased energy expended, self-doubt, anxiety, and dread) increase the stress we experience until we become overloaded.

Though some choice is good, more choice isn’t necessarily better. As a society, our satisfaction with things decreases as the number of choices available to us increases. We’ve all felt that frustration of buying a new Android smartphone, only to feel buyer’s remorse when a newer and better model was released merely months later.

We have an abundance of choices when it comes to smartphones. To demonstrate this idea, one needn’t look further than Motorola and Verizon, arguably the  worst offenders of the bunch. On Verizon’s network alone, Motorola currently offering the Droid 3, Droid X2, Droid Bionic, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx, Droid Pro, and the Droid 4, with 6 of these 7 devices all launching over the course of a 9 month period. Adding to these offerings, Verizon sells the LG Spectrum, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Illusion, HTC Rezound, Samsung Stratosphere, HTC Thunderbolt, LG Enlighten, LG Vortex, Pantech Breakout, Casio G’Zone Commander, HTC Rhyme, Samsung Droid Charge, Sony Xperia Play, and the HTC Droid Incredible 2.

Customers who walk into a Verizon store are presented with 21 different options for Android smartphones, and that doesn’t even count the number of customizations (16 vs 32GB options, multiple color choices, etc) offered by some of the devices. This compares to 2 models of iPhone (4 and 4s, each with a few layers of customizability), 4 different Blackberry devices, and 1 Windows Phone device.

The number of Android devices available outnumbers all other smartphone platforms by a factor of 3 to 1, though they were outsold by the iPhone by at least a few hundred thousand devices last quarter. This is despite Verizon heavily pushing their 4G LTE service, which currently only Android phones are able to take advantage of.

Adding to this problem, carrier stores are generally a big ball of disorganization, with high-end devices mixed in with entry-level phones, the iPhone generally off on its own display, and no clear signage telling people what’s what. I’ve walked into multiple carrier stores recently, and can see how easily people can get confused in these places. With confusion comes the feeling of being overwhelmed, as the choice of which smartphone to purchase is a long-term decision, with customers being locked in to that phone and cell service for multiple years.

Adding the abundance of choice problem to the disorganization in most carrier stores, one can see the potential of a problem spiraling out of control.

Who’s Buying Smartphones in the Next Few Years?

Android’s choice problem gets a bit more important when you consider the people most likely to buy a smartphone in the next several years. Though there will certainly be several folks upgrading to newer smartphones, these users are generally tied to their respective ecosystems. Several of them drop hundreds of dollars (or more) into applications that would need to be repurchased if they decided they no longer wanted an iPhone or an Android device.

The biggest potential for growth then comes from customers who still own feature phones. These laggards have largely stayed away from the smartphone market, either not wanting to complicate their lives with being connected to the internet 24/7, or they are older or technologically-averse individuals who don’t want the complications associated with learning new technology. These individuals have largely stayed away from the smartphone market, but will likely adopt the technology soon as the cost of these devices drops to the point of mass affordability. People in this category outnumber the current number of smartphone users, making this market the key to determine the market leader in smartphone OSes.

If Android doesn’t solve some of the perceived issues with the platform now, it runs the risk of losing out in this important battle for the mainstream customers.

Over the next few years, the smartphone market share battle will be waged over those customers who still own feature phones, and unless Android manufacturers change the way they do business, Google runs the risk of its Android platform on the losing end of this fight.

The Solutions

Solution 1: Remodel Carrier Stores to Provide Clearer Choices
One of the bigger problems is the sheer lack of organization (or, perceived lack of organization) in most carrier stores today. Sure, there’s a display for the iPad and iPhone, as well as one for other tablets, but when it comes to handsets, all bets are off. Phones are generally spread out throughout the rest of the store or, worse, lumped together so that all smartphones (and perhaps smartphones and featurephones) are placed side by side with little other than a little placard to tell them apart.

In a recent TED Talk, Dr. Sheena Iyengar highlights the choice issue further, and shows how businesses can make choices easier on customers by limiting the number of similar items they put on their store shelves. Though Dr. Iyengar mostly focused on retail and the number of brands of olive oil certain stores sell to customers, one can easily make the parallel to the cell phone market.

Carriers could even the playing field and help differentiate their products in an important way if they choose to lay out their stores differently. In a nutshell, carriers should section their store off into 5 different categories:

1. High-End ($200+) Smartphones
2. Mid-Range ($100-200) Smartphones
3. Budget ($0-100) Smartphones
4. Tablets
5. Feature Phones

Placing phones into these categories would allow customers who want to purchase a smartphone to isolate their choices based on how much they’re willing to spend on a product. This will also keep the number of choices a consumer must make to below or around 10, which is approximately the number of choices we can actually rationally decide from.

Verizon is making progress here, as their new store layout somewhat splits devices off into categories. 4G/LTE smartphones have their own display sections, as do tablets. Still, though, as the number of 4G LTE smartphones explodes, we’ll likely have the same problem on our hands unless action is taken.

Solution 2: Commitment from Handset Makers to Reduce the Number of Devices Being Released
Though the carriers’ getting their organizational acts in order does much to reduce the problem, they represent only one side of issue. Handset manufacturers must also commit to reducing the number of devices they churn out in a given period of time. Ideally, instead of releasing multiple devices and hoping one is able to stick and penetrate the market, handset makers should focus their efforts on releasing no more than one entry into each of the above named categories in a 6 or 12 month period, with the possibility of releasing a 4^th in the alternative form factors (slide-out QWERTY, Blackberry-like device, dual-screens, etc.).

This solution would have a dual-impact; not only will there be a more reasonable set of choices for smartphone devices, the quality of the phones being released should increase as research and development teams will be able to focus the same amount of effort on fewer devices.

Some manufacturers have already indicated that they are headed in this direction; HTC has recently announced that it will focus on quality over quantity in 2012, but have not yet given details into what that declaration entails. We hope that HTC sees the writing on the wall as well, and wants their bet on Android to continue to be successful in the long-term. HTC has taken some significant steps with the One series it launched at Mobile World Congress, and we hope these devices (and a de-cluttering of HTC Sense UI) are what HTC chooses to focus on this year.

But HTC is just one of the major players out there. Motorola, Samsung, and LG all should focus on quantity over quality, and release fewer devices in 2012. This will (should) allow these companies to spend more time and energy on UI development, and less thinking about bigger and better devices to release 3 months after their last great device (looking at you, Moto).

Final Thoughts

2012 has started off on the right track. Verizon and T-Mobile are rolling out new stores that they hope will better enhance the customer experience. We obviously hope that they take some of our suggestions and section off their stores so that they are better organized, allowing their customers to better make their phone purchasing decisions.

While HTC is leading the way in reducing the sheer number of devices available to customers, Mobile World Congress brought news of multiple new devices from the likes of LG and Huawei, and about 15 tablets from Samsung (okay, a slight exaggeration). Instead of releasing three 10″ tablets, we hope that Samsung puts all of their favorite features into one flavor of 10″ tablet and support the heck out of it. Similar too with cell phones.

Sure, choice is a good thing, and helps Android stand out from the few devices competitors offer, but when it comes to the significant (and sometimes stressful) choice about which device ends up in our pockets for too years, too much of a good thing does not amount to a great thing.

Let me be honest. I didn’t get much work done yesterday because I was glued to all the live blogs covering Apple’s new iPad announcement. Obviously I’m an Android fan, but I’m still interested in other mobile technology and I follow all of Apple’s big events.

So what did I think about the new iPad? [...]]]>

Let me be honest. I didn’t get much work done yesterday because I was glued to all the live blogs covering Apple’s new iPad announcement. Obviously I’m an Android fan, but I’m still interested in other mobile technology and I follow all of Apple’s big events.

So what did I think about the new iPad? The “resolutionary” retina display is freaking amazing (seriously, I want that in my next tablet) and the new iPhoto and iMovie look like awesome tools, but other than that I wasn’t impressed much.

After the event, the Apple-obsessed Samsung quickly put out a press release to compare content creation features between the new iPad and the recently announced Galaxy Note 10.1. I found this pretty hilarious, but it really got me thinking.

Do Android fans really care about the new iPad? And do Apple fans give a damn about any Android tablet?

Most Android fans already know, “best smartphone” or “best tablet” is a title that any given device can claim for several weeks (sometimes days). The new iPad is the best tablet available for the moment, but Samsung will quickly roll out their rumored Galaxy Tab 11.6 with a faster processor, faster GPU, and even higher resolution display than Apple.

I’m sure Samsung’s new tablet could be superior in every way to the new iPad, but that doesn’t mean that Apple fans will suddenly start lining up to buy one.

As Android chief Andy Rubin recently put it, “The educated consumer realizes it now that they’re either picking the Apple ecosystem or the Microsoft ecosystem or the Google ecosystem.”

If you have already purchased a couple Android phones and maybe a tablet, you have chosen Google’s ecosystem. I’ve followed Apple’s ecosystem closely the last couple of years, and I haven’t seen anything that would make me consider a switch. The thing that is most appealing to me about Google’s ecosystem is choice and I don’t foresee Apple ever competing in that area.

But Apple fans don’t really care about choice. They will keep buying anything that Apple puts out. Jolie O’Dell of VentureBeat put it nicely when she said, “it’s only 30 percent about the tech and 70 percent about the branding.” The new iPad is already starting to run out of stock online. And I don’t have a problem with that. Apple makes great products and their customers are loyal to the brand.

I just think it’s pointless to keep comparing Android products to Apple products when neither side really cares about the other.

So again I ask the question. Does the new iPad make anyone want to switch ecosystems? Check out the official iPad trailer below and let me know if you will be lining up in front of an Apple store on March 16th.

comScore has just released their report on the state of the mobile industry for the three months ending January 2012. The report shows continued growth for the Android operating system, with a total smartphone market share of 48.6% in the U.S., up 2.3% from the three month period ending October 2011. Apple also saw growth [...]]]>

comScore has just released their report on the state of the mobile industry for the three months ending January 2012. The report shows continued growth for the Android operating system, with a total smartphone market share of 48.6% in the U.S., up 2.3% from the three month period ending October 2011. Apple also saw growth in its iOS platform with 29.5% of users using Apple’s platform, a 1.4% increase.

The big losers of the month continue to be RIM, which saw a decrease of 2% to 15.2%, Windows Phone (down 1% to 4.4%), and Symbian (down 0.1% to 1.5%). Android’s continued ability for growth will likely come at the expense of RIM, which will need nothing short of a miracle in OS 10 to stop their market share from falling into the single digits.

We should soon see Google’s Android operating system hit the psychologically-important 50% in the next 1-2 reports, with more and more users ditching their Blackberries and entering the current decade. OS 10 isn’t due out until much later this year, perhaps as late as Q4, which is also when Microsoft will launch Windows Phone 8, which will be Microsoft’s biggest test as to whether consumers will begin adopting the Windows Phone platform.

All in all, great news for Android fans. You can read comScore’s full report by clicking the source link below.