I am getting a bit frustrated with the statistics in the news related to phone sales.
The real message for security is that mobile phones are outselling laptops and other devices by a far margin. Let me delve into the headlines for a minute, however, and try to explain my frustration.
Reuters, for example, headlines with “Google’s Android takes lead in US consumer smartphones: Android devices had 33 pct share in Q2“. Open the article, however, and you you see that they compare Android to RIM.
That is like comparing Linux to Apple Laptop sales. One is an operating system, the other is hardware with an operating system.
A more fair comparison would be to say that hardware A is outselling hardware B. We find that in the article, as a late admission.
Android is available on smartphones from a number of different manufacturers.
NPD said Motorola’s (MOT.N) Droid was the best-selling Android handset in the second quarter among U.S. consumers, followed by HTC’s (2498.TW) Droid Incredible and EVO 4G.
Therefore, Motorola, which is now owned by Nokia, is the best-selling handset of the best-selling operating system. That is why I call this Nokia in the US outsells RIM and Apple in Q2.
Here is an even more egregious example, from the BBC. Their headline reads “Google Android phone shipments increase by 886%”
We should prepare to be wowed. That’s a lot of percentage points, right? Open the article and you find the same error as with Reuters. They bounce back and forth between platforms and devices, software and hardware.
Right away they say that Android sales is split across numerous companies.
Pete Cunningham, an analyst at Canalys, said Android’s sales were in part due to recent launches of “highly compelling” phones.
“We’re really seeing major vendors getting behind the platform,” he said.
In particular, he said, large manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, all used the platform and had helped drive shipments.
Um, ok. HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson get mentioned, but where is Motorola Nokia Siemens? Note above again that the Reuters article called Motorola the Android sales leader.
I find BBC trying to compare software on a chart that has shipments of Symbian far ahead of RIM, Android and Apple. RIM and Apple? Companies that make hardware and software. Android and Symbian? Operating Systems. Mix it all together, ignore the fact that Symbian includes everything from the most basic phone to smart phone…and you get a statistical mess. Strange how they pull the Android market together to get the high percentage but leave alone the question of what that really means…like Nokia might be consolidating their lead position with an Android option on their hardware while RIM, Apple and Microsoft lag behind.
Someone in Android marketing is doing a very good job at confusing the press.
The story, as I mentioned at the start, is really that consumers are buying into an open platform smart phone model. Adoption and upgrade rates are far higher than with more expensive laptops and mobile compute devices. Nokia has a strong lead in the US as well as globally, while RIM is distant second and Apple is third. Microsoft is seeing shrink, which they apparently blame on a transition in OS but everyone knows it’s just another leadership catastrophe (like when CEO Ballmer blamed weak Vista sales on better security *cough*).
Perhaps a reporter could do a more fair evaluation along the lines of Nokia/HTC/Samsung/Sony/RIM/Apple and then Symbian/Android/BBOS/iOS. I have looked but not found one yet.