We’re in Barcelona keeping an eye on Eric Schmidt’s Mobile World Congress keynote, where the Google CEO just disclosed an interesting fact: Google and their hardware partners are now shipping 60,000 Android handsets each day.
Whether “shipped” here means “sold to end users” or “ordered by retailers” is unclear – but regardless, it’s quite the feat either way.
If that’s a true average rate and it holds true for the next year, that works out to about 5.4 million handsets per quarter, or 21.9 million per year. Not only that, but the rate seems to be growing fairly rapidly; according to Schmidt, the rate has nearly doubled over the last quarter.
Solely as a point of reference for the curious: Apple sold 8.7 million iPhones last quarter.
Is this number believable? sustainable?
Is Apple’s believable?
Either ways with the way every company is creating their brand of android phones is a matter of time before android coverage surpasses iPhone’s.
I think it is absolutely believable; however, the more shipped also means that the flavors of andriod will become more apparent.
Hell its about time, just when you thought, N1 is turning into a slowpoke in terms of sales… This report sure is refreshing to hear.
Nexus One underfire: http://bit.ly/nexus-one-comparissons
Apple’s numbers are backed up by earnings. I don’t see HTC or motorola with any numbers that back up this statement. Google only sold less than 100k phones in the month of January.
This statement is pure BS! Shmidt must be dreaming.
Why wouldn’t it be believable? Lying as CEO of a public company = misleading shareholders = jail.
Why wouldn’t it be sustainable? Android is just code.
It’s believable to me, and I can imagine that number will keep going up fast. It’s simply a matter of numbers and outlets. By the end of the year there will be at least 100 different Android handsets available on the market from at least 20 major manufacturers and on all carriers in most countries.
-
I think people have a blind spot about the giant snowball that is Android.
Does this include all the free phones they give away!
So, we should expect Android to be the #2 phone OS by the end of the year?
Nah, they’re still down on RIM a that rate and just a blip to Nokia.
All android phones are smartphones, but not all nokia phones are. They probably still sold about 40 million smartphones, but most are very low end in terms of user experience (the fact that S60 user interface is outdated doesn’t help either).
Irha seems to be another of those dumb Americans that never traveled abroad… Nokia has 40% of the smartphones market this is a fact! You also are outdated in S60… Its is called only Symbian now. Have you used a N97, N97 mini, X6 or N900??? They have way more features than any Android or Iphone, that’s why they sell much more in the rest of the world where operators let users buy what they want.
You might want to check the stats here. http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/02/the_iphone_obse.html or here http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/02/phone-market-shares-for-year-of-2009-and-last-quarter-2009.html
Really good stats showing Nokia and Symbian way ahead in terms of market share in smartphones.
Err… no.
They sold 67 million smartphones of which 36 million were high end N and E series in 2009.
You can actually look this stuff up you know.
Very simple indeed, powerful combination, a gpl operating system running on many different handsets at 0 cost for phone makers, forget iphone or W7 too expensive in these times of crisis. I think I will just wait and enjoy.
Good for google,
The consumer deserves a choice.
I’m waiting on Win 7 Phone myself.
…and you will be waiting another ten years for a half decent fully functional phone.
After you get your Windows 7 phone be sure to have a therapist on call, you are going to need it.
good to see you know so much about a product that hasn’t been released yet. Can you tell me who will win the 5th race at Saratoga tonight?
Think of margins, not number of sales
I am in the market for a smartphone. Which features of Win 7 Phone are you thinking of that might be worth the wait?
Thanks.
where to ?
I’m restraining myself from buying any phones, waiting for google ! but really they’re taking too long !
Waiting for google…? For a Nexus Two I guess?
For Nexus-n. (n -› ∞)
Keynotes suck because you cannot ask questions (e.g. 60k/day sold or shipped?).
It’s almost like warning text on a medicine that you cannot read.
I ordered one yesterday, it’s currently in WICHITA, KS, via UPS (yes, I’m hitting Refresh over and over again).
Let us know as soon as it gets to the next destination.
Seems very unlikely that they’re selling that many directly in the US per day to consumers. They also didn’t say if it was a continuous volume. We’ll know soon, though. Details should emerge through T-Mobile and Google public filings.
The reason it seems unlikely is that there’s so little marketing being done by Google. We’re constantly bombarded by Apple, Motorola Droid, RIM and Palm Pre ads. Almost zip from Google, except links on their search page.
I’ll call BS on Google going from zero to 21MM with the Nexus One. Also, let’s not forget the product is good – but no where as consumer friendly as the iPhone.
It doesn’t say 21M for the Nexus — 21m for *Android* which has dozens of hardware combos (I couldn’t think of a better word — “handsets”?).
there is a hole world outside the US, you know?…
Not only can you not read (Android phones != Nexus One), you also appear oblivious to the fact that there’s more to the world than the US. Congrats on being a stereotypical Ameriduh.
Oh boy, what does he think the Droid is? An secret iPhone? Its an android! You…..
Oh dear…
everyones already made these points, but you need to be slammed again.
-The U.S. is not the only country in the world.
-The Motorolla Droid IS an android handset
-The Nexus one is one of dozens of android handsets
-You’re an idiot.
I think the fact that there’s no advertising to speak of from google is only a testament to how good android must be. Selling these kind of numbers with very little spent on advertising means its all about about word of mouth form happy users. That – coupled with the lower cost buying, implementing & developing for – is a recipe for success.
(Kind of ironic when advertising is something they’re in the business of doing)
Sum of Nexus One != Sum of Android
If this were true…that means that in 3 years, 1 in every 100 people on the planet will have an Android phone.
You do know that people.. you know, replace their old phone? I don’t know anyone that still has one of the original motorola bricks, most people upgraded. Most android customers would update android phones every two years at least, sprint customers every year.
With all this talk about RIM and Apple, one can’t help but ask the question “Where’s Nokia?”
Is it me or is anyone else dumbfounded by their global market share?
“Dumbfounded.” Interesting word choice, considering their market share mostly consists of dumbphones.
Check it here
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/02/phone-market-shares-for-year-of-2009-and-last-quarter-2009.html
It looks like Apple is repeating its original Macintosh mistakes with mobile phones. Keeping full control to build a better product, but then getting swamped by lots of other hardware manufacturers who build around an alternative OS.
My Android phone is not as slick as an iPhone, and Apple has built a beautiful system of entertainment, communications and data management. But look at how many new Android products hit the shelves each quarter. Even if Apple becomes the most profitable single manufacturer, over time they will be worn down the combined marketing efforts of all their competitors.
Which isn’t to say that Apple’s shareholders will do poorly, but Apple will remain a vulnerable niche producer that can’t afford as many mistakes as a dominant player, and eventually they’ll zig when they should zag.
And some would say Google is repeating Sun mistakes with jme.
They are certainly better off than following Microsoft’s business plan.
Or are you suggesting they should give away their iPhone OS for free, like Google is giving away Android?
Besides, how much profit do you suppose Google is generating for its shareholders from Android? Their Nexus One just got one-upped by an announcement of a new HTC phone.
Apple’s doing just fine now, but they have to be the ones to come up with each great product (outside of a few acquisitions), which makes their path especially risky when Jobs leaves.
It looks so far like Android wasn’t developed to be profitable, but to make sure that we will lock into the broadest range of Google properties (many of which beg their own questions about profit potential). If it helps them to expand Apps into the enterprise, or to beat out Facebook to be the main repository of user accounts and relationships, Android will be easy to justify without its ever making a dime.
I think you’re mischaracterizing. “Lock-in” isn’t be the motive. It’s in Google’s interest that the mobile ecosystem be open. Android raises customer expectations about access to applications and services in such a way that it becomes very difficult for any vendor to accomplish such lock in, and very difficult to lock others out. Any mobile platform which significantly reduces choice will be viewed by customers as stunted. In effect, Android (and its overseas cousin Maemo) prevent another Microsoft from happening.
Great!If they manage to do sell the same 60.000 per second they may start to offer some competition to Nokia… LOL
majority is the shitty phones like droid eris
they sell 1 nexus one per month
iiai
A. “Whether “shipped” here means “sold to end users” or “ordered by retailers” is unclear” – no it’s not. “Shipped” means shipped. It does not mean sold. How many events are they handing out free units at? Many.
B. Is Apple’s # believeable? – Yes, it’s been studied ad nauseum for a few years now by many market participants and is a core metric reported in their SEC financials.
C. Is this [Google's] number believeable? No. It’s a number offered for promotional purposes which means that it was likely generated through a marketing mechanism and most marketing processes have no incentive to portray actual facts, only facts that can be interpreted positively.
Off topic question. Has anyone else share this article to Buzz from GReader?? If so have anyone been able to comment on it.
Why do you Google fanboys love the world’s largest spyware company so much?
[citation needed]
How many of the 60K are still using Android 1.5? Sucks that companies can still ship these models.
Lots. more than one third of the android user base is still using 1.5
I still remember it from my Magic days. it’s made leaps and bounds since then!
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-21-now-more-quarter-android-phones
Got to be honest android is the best os right now.It’s the future of smartphones.Far better than my 3gs.
Good to see Google/Skynet is doing so well. I will go back to my old 1992 bag phone before you see my use a Android phone, especially after Google handled the whole Google Buzz fiasco.
Love the Google/Skynet comment hahah, so true.
I’m definitely not switching to Android phone, I’ll stick to Blackberry/Iphone.