Android Outsells the iPhone: What It Means for Mobile Marketers

Sales of Android-based smartphones surged past Apple’s iPhone in Q1 this year, according to a widely reported press release from the NPD Group. Android garnered 28% of the US smartphone market, 7 points ahead of the iPhone, but still 8 points behind BlackBerry, which retained the lead, with a 36% share. As noted in the NPD press release, these figures are based on consumer surveys, and do not include corporate device sales, which are unlikely to have swayed the market that dramatically in any case. Note also that NPD’s sales figures differ considerably from comScore’s most recent breakdown of the US smartphone market:

There are a few different sides to this story worth noting. The first, and most obvious, is that Android continues to see strong growth, as you might expect from an operating system starting from a small base. That said, the evidence extends beyond handset sales into usage. AdMob’s March 2010 Mobile Metrics Report, for example, noted that Android smartphones had moved ahead of the iPhone for the first time in terms of US-based ad impressions (the iPhone continues to lead globally, however).

That segues into the second and third angles to this story: there are many Android devices, but just one iPhone, and Android has multiple US carrier partners (versus just one for the iPhone). Plus, all of the carriers, most notably Verizon, have been putting considerable marketing muscle behind their Android devices in an all-out effort to compete with the iPhone. As Ross Rubin, NPD’s Executive Director of Industry Analysis, noted in the release, “In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones.”

In the context of this competitive landscape, it is equally valid to underscore how well Apple has done with just one device as it is to highlight the progress Android has made with multiple devices, especially when Apple only puts out hardware updates once per year. But as evidence continues to mount that mobile ads may in fact be more effective than online ads in some instances, more competition is good news for marketers. Android’s growth provides a viable alternative to the iPhone and Apple’s upcoming iAd platform, the table stakes for which may be beyond the reach of many advertisers.