CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2010 Scorecard: Smartphone operating systems

Whose profile is rising? Android

There is no denying Google's Android. The platform served as the basis for virtually all of the phones announced at this year's 2010 CTIA Enterprise & Applications show. Indeed, of the 14 or so gadgets unveiled at the show, fully 12 ran Android. (Though, to be fair, some of those phones were new iterations of existing products, such as Kyocera's Sanyo-branded Zio for Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S).)

Nonetheless, Android's meteoric growth curve is undeniable: According to comScore--which bases its figures on monthly surveys of wireless phone users--Android's share of the U.S. smartphone market has exploded from 2.5 percent in September 2009 to fully 20 percent in August of this year, the most recent month of available figures. That's right: In just 11 months Android has grown from virtually nothing to a fifth of the U.S. market.

Other firms concur. According to August research from The Nielsen Company, Android is the most popular operating system among U.S. smartphone buyers who purchased a device in the past six months. The research firm said the percentage of Android smartphone buyers increased from 14 percent in January to 32 percent in August. Meanwhile, purchasers of Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry decreased from 34 percent in January to 25 percent in August. Likewise, the percentage of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone buyers decreased from 32 percent in January to 26 percent in August.

The foundation of Android's success is its pliability, argued Google's Android architect Andy Rubin. "Every phone shouldn't look like every other phone," he told PC Magazine. "If that was the case there would just be one SKU, right? The whole idea here is just to figure out what consumers want, build phones and tailor them to what consumers want."

However, Android will face serious challenges in the months ahead. Specifically, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform launched just this week, and manufacturers including HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell support the platform. Further, Hewlett-Packard is likely to soon refresh Palm's webOS platform, and Nokia (NYSE:NOK)--the world's largest handset maker--is refocusing on Symbian and, soon, MeeGo smartphones. A Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) iPhone might also help stem Android's progress.

But last week's show, from a handset perspective, was clearly Android's game.

Whose profile is falling? Everyone else

Google's rise during the past year is even more notable when it is compared with the progress of its competitors. According to comScore's user surveys, market share numbers for Windows Mobile and Palm fell precipitously during the 11 months between September 2009 and August 2010--declines that were largely expected.

However, more notable are the share numbers for BlackBerry and Apple's iOS. According to comScore, BlackBerry share peaked in January at around 43 percent of the market, and has been sliding since (though that may change following the August introduction of the BlackBerry Torch through AT&T Mobility). And Apple's ubiquitous iPhone? According to comScore, Apple's share of U.S. consumers has remained relatively unchanged for the past 11 months, sitting right around 25 percent. It seems the high-profile launch of Apple's iPhone 4 did little to move the company's market share, though it did ship in enormous volumes (likely to users upgrading from previous versions of the gadget).

"Amid the advance of Android, Apple Inc. suffered a 4 percent drop in smart phone shipments in the second quarter. However, the decline doesn't represent a major setback for the benchmark iPhone brand," wrote research firm iSuppli in its assessment of the global market. "Apple's decline in the second quarter was because of the transition from the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4. The iPhone 3GS was reaching the end of its life, causing sales to drop off. Meanwhile, Apple had trouble keeping up with iPhone 4 demand, resulting in the small decline in shipments. The contraction caused Apple's share of smart phone shipments to fall to 13.9 percent in the second quarter, down from 15.7 percent in the first quarter. Nonetheless, the company maintained a firm grip on third place in the global smart phone market."

Again, it's worth pointing out that Microsoft did not use CTIA as a launching point for its Windows Phone 7 efforts, instead waiting until the following week to take the wraps off the platform. And it's a safe bet that players like Nokia and HP could still make high-profile launches before the coming fourth quarter holiday shopping season. But the numbers indicate Android has the momentum in the U.S. smartphone market--clearly reflected in its domination of the CTIA Enterprise & Applications show.