By The date: August 5th, 2010.
The number: 200K.
The subject: Android phone activations per day.
Mr. Rubin just tweeted that the number is now 300,000 per day. A 50% increase in a mere four months.
So, to the competition I have this to say:
[via @ARubin]
im so sorry people but i just don’t buy that at all. they always talk about activations what about sales. nobody really wanna dissect what people say anymore. here a question how many are you actually selling and how many are y’all giving away for free. amazon, best buy, verizon, developers, adobe, and those selling there phones just to get the newest one (selling a old phone to someone on ebay and activating) thats the real question. but no one seems to ask that anymore. back in the day i journalism if you said something they made sure you backed it up with some hard actual facts
@lilbigman, you do realize that even the ones that are given away are still payed for by the carriers (at least most of the cost). Carriers make up the money with the contracted plans.
@lilbigman: What difference does it make whether someone is buying an Android phone / getting it for free? The carriers are making up by selling services either ways… And if ydco marketing strategy / flexibility (or whatever negative third rate tactics you want to call) improve the market share of Android, its good for the Android platform..
Yeah, nobody really wanna dissect what you have to say either. So start capitalizing your sentences.
@lilbigman – The phones are not shampoo samples to be given away for free. They are SUBSIDIZED by contract plans. Jesus, Americans are completely clueless about the real cost of smartphones aren’t they?
@lilbigman,
you fail to see the big picture. it really doesn’t matter if all of these phones are given away for free. 300,000 new activations per day means a more lucrative market for developers. more developers, the better for all of us android users.
One question: if I root my phone and keep installing new ROMs to play with, would each activation of a new ROM on the same phone be counted as a fresh activation in Google’s stats?
ok i asked question and just like i thought i havent been giving an answer. i know carriers make up the cost they do that for every phone out there. but what im saying is why dont they brag about sales numbers. everyone else does that.
Does anyone really comprehend how many phones that is? That is 9,300,000 phones a month. Thats 111,600,000 phones over the next 12 months if it stays stable and doesn’t continue to rise. It amazes me how quickly smart phones are growing. I remember my Treo 650 I saved up for and bought on ebay in high school (I’ve always been addicted to technology). Oh how far we have come.
@Pieter actually it makes it worst. when you have so many different screen resolutions, processors, software it doesnt make it a pleasant experience to develop on that makes it much more busy work because time is money.
@asqwerth,
not sure, but less than 1 percent root the phones in any case.
@lilbigman I think there are a couple reasons for that. Google can’t track sales since it doesn’t actually sell any phones (till the 16th of this month that is). There are dozens of Android manufacturers on many different cellular networks all over the world. It would be very difficult to track all of those. They do know how many people go through the activation process though, because phones talk to their servers for that, so they can easily track it.
Another reason is that “sold” is less reliable in my opinion. Just because Microsoft sold 300,000 (number I just made up) phones to AT&T doesn’t mean they are in customer hands. Microsoft can claim to have sold 300,000 phones in their first month, but if only 50,000 are activated who cares?
@asqwerth that’s a great question.
@. lilbigman
How can they talk of sales when they dont sell, all Google can see is how many phones/devices are logging into google search and android market, thats how they count. For sales figures, wait for Gartner or Nielsen, so far, Google’s figures and Gartner’s figures have been very close.
@JRDroid i see what your saying but you cant just buy a phone without activating it.
@asqwerth In a previous numbers release Google did specify that there numbers were new activations. I believe it was right after the 200k mark in response to jabs by Apple that insinuated that many may be reactivations
@lilbigman don’t fight it, stop with the denial. Opinions don’t matter in the end only measured stats and the stats say 300,000 smackaroos! And you know that Android is just getting started especially after Nokia and RIM join the Android Alliance and they will or their sales will keep falling as comScore shows. Embrace and love the Android now! Free yourself!
@lilbigman A consumer can’t but a company can. HTC can sell phones to Verizon and if Verizon can’t move them, they won’t be activated. This is why I like activated numbers more than sold numbers. Sold numbers leave the question of sold to who? Consumers? Retailers?
Here is the phandroid article about google clarifying their numbers.
http://phandroid.com/2010/09/02/google-hey-jobs-we-arent-counting-upgrades-in-our-activation-numbers/
ok. im gonna ask this last thing and im done. if android wasnt giving away phones to developers, adobe, free phone on amazon, free best buy, verizon bogo. how well do you think it will be doing without all that.
@lilbibman You have a point. I mean Android has about 10,000 developers. Say Google “gives away” one phone to each of them per month, then the activations would realistically be 299,000 a day. GOOD CATCH!
lilbigman – seriously? the phones given away, even bogo and otherwise, don’t make up anywhere near 300,000 a day. Go back to iOS land man… where in America there are something like 51 million iPhone sales but only like 12 million active on att. and who cares to any of this really. iOS and Android are here to stay, I’m just happy that android and google have the best platform (imo), the most options and much better than apple charged prices. I like choice, I like options, so iLike Android
Your problem is that he said it through twitter so what journalism is that lol you are dumb dude it was a tweet it was no official conference call or anything so chill out why you have to be a hard ass I hate liberal fucks they all are whiney little babys
@lilbigman Do you really think that give away could represent much of a market share, if so I’m sure you’re not in business, they are current business practices but it sure doesn’t are a matter of influences to be considered.
And on the other hand I can tell you that they don’t give that many phones to developers, as a matter of fact in the last 2 years I’ve bought 6 phones and only one was subsidized in exchange of a 3 years contract. And only this one has been activated, because all I have to do is switch my sim, and/or use it over wifi, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who do this. And just think that if anyone buy a new phone that person does not have to activate it if they already are on a plan they just switch the sim card and that’s it, that plus what @JRDroid answered to you ( A consumer can’t but a company can. HTC can sell phones to Verizon and if Verizon can’t move them, they won’t be activated. … … leave the question of sold to who? Consumers? Retailers?) that’s why activations are THE important part and why SALES are probably HIGHER than the activations.
Now when you say to @Pieter ”actually it makes it worst. when you have so many different screen resolutions, processors, software it doesn’t make it a pleasant experience to develop on that makes it much more busy work because time is money.”.
I can tell you that it is not a big deal at all and that it does NOT represent that much of a problem except maybe for those who are using it as an excuse for not working on Android.
@asqwerth The roms doesn’t matter at all unless every time you change your ROM you also change your carrier and your Google sign in, and I can’t see why someone would do that and double they’re cost on plan and loose the apps they already paid for.
Hope this answered a few questions.
Why does it matter if they’re BOGOs or free phones? Google doesn’t make any money off Android handset sales anyway; they don’t make the hardware and the software they give for free. They make money on ads and on people using Google services.
It’s the carriers/manufacturers that care about that. And the manufacturers make the same because they get the same from the carriers no matter what the carriers sell them for, and the carriers make it back in service plan fees.
If you’re saying that better sales tactics are what makes the difference for Android sales, you might be right. The lack of a Verizon iPhone helps too I’m sure. But that has nothing to do with Google.
Yeah! I say, “fuck this dumb smart ass kid!” Go back to college!
As others have said, 300,000 activations is the best way for Google to count how many phones are used/sold.
The amount given away to developers is tiny, really. At Google I/O there were a few thousand people, tops. They each got two phones. Even if they had an event of that scale 3 times a year(and all other phone giveaways throughout the year are unlikely to match that, but let’s pretend they do) that makes 18,000 phone yearly. That’s just over 1,000 a month.
Apple/Steve will come out saying that at best they’re only a little ahead of iOS activations, but in reality iOS covers iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone. The only really popular Android tablet right now is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. If they sell 1.5 million this year(as they project) that 1.5 million over a year equals 125,000 a month, which is roughly 4,166 a day. That’s far, far less than the iPad impacts Apple’s numbers.
Also, he specifically called-out phones. Stupid me for missing that. So Apple really has no leg upon which to stand when they claim whatever shit they’ll claim about iOS.
Why do people act like cost matters? its the fact that people chose android over that other options. I mean jesus christos you guys act like only androids are offered for free. Like being free makes the number of activations irrelevant. LOL its absolutely ridiculous. You can get free blackberry’s you can get free nokia’s and other dumb phones or smart phones but whose activation rates are higher in america? Android. Its still relevant. A sale is a sale even if its free on contract.
@asqwerth
nope not at all. Cell phone activation is pretty much synonymous with new cell phone sales. Its basically like when you bought your new phone its how many android IMEI’s and the likes access the network and so on and with Custom roms you aren’t changing that IMEI nor serial number.
@2FR35H the Apple fanboys are frantically trying to find any way to discredit the numbers. I’m glad people here called this iFool on the the BOGO deals. The phones are still payed for. Plain and simple you can’t skirt around activation numbers.
–
Now let me turn the tables a bit. How is it Jobs comes along and tries to trump the 200K number but none of the reports from comscore or Neilsons ever reflects that. Android show like 5% growth and iOS is less than 1% or sometimes negative. Nobody ever questions that. In fact they attack the reports as being wrong as if people can’t possibly not be buying iPhones. Man I can’t wait for the iPhone to come to Verizon so the numbers can continue and they can’t come up with that single carrier crap anymore. Even though its on multiple carriers in Europe and still can’t stop Android they just ignore that.
lilbigman , what the hell? First of all, you can’t make an actual complete sentence when writing, and second of all, you are full of bull***. 300,000 activations a day is a lot no matter “how it happens”. Get over it! Trust me, the money is in there, businesses don’t exist for any other reason. Just because you don’t “hear” about the money means NOTHING. Whoever said the sales was the judge of what’s really going on? Having more devices IS more lucrative for developers. I have two apps for sale and contrary to “popular” belief, it’s not difficult to maintain them even on multiple devices. Just stop believing the lies and bullcrap. Unless you have actually developed for Android then keep your trap shut.
-B
I’m pretty sure google doesn’t care about how much the phones cost, just as long as their advertising and search engines are showing up in the apps.
I’m surprised some iCultist from Apple Insider hasn’t started screaming “It’s all about profit!Who cares that Android is more popular??? Apple makes the most profit! We win! Haaa Haaa Haaa!!!” Before you clowns even try that one, unless you are an employee of Apple, the only thing that high profit margins mean is that as a consumer you are being raped for buying a product that is worth much less than what you paid for it. High profit margins for the user mean that you are stupid for buying that product, and you care more about status than function (like Bentley owners). If you are an industrial rapist (employee of Apple) then higher than average profit margins are very, very, lucrative.
Must agree with Brad 2. I have an app on the market and I’m about to release another and I haven’t had to do anything special to either one to deal with different devices. Google is an engineering company. They know how to handle this. Just look at how you can develop one app for the coming Honeycomb release and it will know if it should put multiple sections up on the screen at once for a tablet or show them sequentially like a phone app on a phone without the developer doing anything special.
oh shit, this comment section really took a turn for the worst. haha sorry lilbigman, your own people (assuming you are just an android user trying to make sure you have all bases covered) tore you to pieces. bad phandroids! heel!
This is good news for ALL android users… why? Because it should lead to the platform getting a lot more attention from developers. Fragmentation is a moot point when your user base becomes monstrous. This simply reminds me of the first mac and microsoft battle for market share took place. We all know how that turned out.
Here’s to more quality and quantity apps!
The iTards talking about “different resolutions” and “fragmentation” remind me of the Mactards of years past, who insisted that having 386, 486 and Pentium processors as well as VGA, SVGA and XGA resolutions would “fragment Windows” while Apple was “simpler” with high-priced machines that had slow processors and limited color palettes.
It was BS then, and it’s BS now. Android is driving hardware innovation ranging from very good entry-level devices like the LG Optimus bringing high performance at a great price, and high end phones like the Galaxy S and EVO bringing superior performance. iPhone 4 is the poorly engineered, buggy, underpowered and overpriced “Mac” of years past, and will die just as quickly as the Apple computer platform did when the Intel juggernaut overpowered it.
Eric Schmidt CEO of Google announced that they bought Andy Rubin’s Android company for 50mil and from that 50mil they generated 1bil in revenues. This is where Google makes some big money.