Fintech

Android dominating much of the mobile world

While advisers remain heavy users of Apple iPads, much of the world is picking up a new Android smart phone or tablet.

First-quarter worldwide shipments of smart mobile devices: 308.7 million units.
That according to market research firm Canalys’ latest estimates. The firm includes notebook computers, tablets and smart phones in that count.
Advisers continue to frequently ask me about which mobile operating system is dominating these days.
Despite our own survey last year which showed that 85.8% of advisers were using an iPad, Android is coming on strong in the general market thus far in 2013.
(It was interesting that last year saw Android break into double-digit usage among advisers, with 13.3% of our survey takers indicating they had one.)
One of several flavors of the Android operating system were loaded onto 59.5% of all smart mobile devices shipped in the first quarter of 2013, according to Canalys.
Apple Inc. is still selling plenty of iPads, iPhones and laptops though — accounting for 19.3% of shipments.
Microsoft Corp. with its Windows 8 and Windows Mobile operating system shipped an 18.1% share. Keep in mind again that this includes tablets, phones and notebook computers.
That said, Canalys reports that the tablet market does indeed continue to grow the fastest among the three device types.
Viewed from a worldwide perspective, tablet shipments grew 106.1% year-over-year to 41.9 million units. Canalys also noted that while Apple continues to lead in the tablet market with a 46.4% share, its share is sliding a bit to Android-based competitors — and that is the case for a third consecutive quarter.
“Spearheaded by Google and Amazon, the commoditization of the tablet market has happened far quicker than that of the wider PC market,” said Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling, in a prepared statement released Thursday.

When specifically taking smart phone shipments under review, worldwide shipments totaled 216.3 million for the quarter, according to Canalys analysts.
Android’s share of that total equaled 75.6%. Among manufacturers, the handset crown continues to be worn by Samsung — with a total world share of 32% in the first quarter.
Now if any of this persuades you to go out and buy an Android as your next smart phone, please, for good measure, consider purchasing some antivirus and/or anti-malware protection.