Android operating system catching up

In January, the Galaxy S III from Samsung took over the top spot as the most prevalent Android-based device in the world. I thought I would simply share that because so many advisers keep asking me these days about using both Android phones and tablets (and asking why I appear to be an iPad fan boy --- which I'm not, in fact I've only had an iPad for six months). That S III pronouncement is based on data from the folks at Localytics, an application and device analytics firm. The S III surpassed its predecessor, the Galaxy S II. Localytics also reported that eight of the top 10 currently used Android devices are Samsung as well. Samsung reported in Nov. 2012 that it has sold more than 30 million S III's in just the previous five months. Part of the S III's popularity as a smart phone probably has a lot to do with its size, which is large by mobile phone standards. In fact a lot of owners and even some experts like to classify it as a crossover device that bridges the gap between a smart phone and tablet. That said, while overall numbers may be small, there is a cadre of tech-savvy advisers who are fans of tablets running the Android operating system too. In the InvestmentNews 2012 annual survey of technology usage and satisfaction published in August we found that 51% of advisers were using a tablet device for professional purposes. While 85.8% of them were using an iPad, 13.3% reported using an Android-based tablet, the first time we have seen Android tablet usage in double-digits. Localytics also reported interesting data based on holiday purchases of Android-running tablet devices in January. Kindle Fires (from Amazon and built by Quanta Computer Inc.), Galaxy Notes (from Samsung) and Nook Tablets (from Barnes & Noble) were among the market share winners in December, 2012. The Kindle Fire dominates in the tablet arena with 33% of the US Android tablet market, followed by the Nook with 10%, Galaxy with 9%, and Google Nexus 7 (built by AsusTech Computer Inc.) with 8% respectively. There were big increases among all three devices based on new unique devices running Localytics code. Simply put Localytics research is based on a package of code that application creators agree to add to their programs. That code anonymously sends a few packets of data back to Localytics reporting what model machine they are running on. And Localytics has code running on over 100 million unique devices across thousands of iOS and Android apps along with that of many other device manufacturers (Research in Motion for example). I would love to hear from advisers using Android devices in the work, both smart phones and tablet users. Please get in touch. For more information visit Localytics online.