NPD: Android Share Drops for First Time in Two Years with Launch of Verizon iPhone
According to NPD’s newly published quarterly report on US smartphone sales, the Verizon iPhone may have had a bigger impact on smartphone sales than was initially thought. The availability of the device on multiple carriers was enough to push Apple up the ranks to become the third-largest handset brand in the United States. The rise pushed Apple’s overall smartphone market share up 9 points to 28 percent. The gain in ground had adverse effects on Android’s share, which saw a drop for the first time sine Q2 2009. Still holding the number one position, Android dropped 3 points to settle at 50 percent share for Q1 2011.
Without a few more months of data under out belts, it’s hard to say whether the drop is a minor hiccup or a sign of things to come. A recent Nielsen report showed that a majority of consumers were looking at Android as the preferred OS of their next smartphone. But Android’s meteoric growth can’t be sustained forever. If not now, it will eventually slow and level off. One thing we don’t see happening, however, is Android dropping the top position any time soon.
[via NPD]