iOS Platform Reach Exceeds Android's By 59% in U.S.

[MacRumors]

While much has been made of Android's rapid gains in the smartphone market that has seen it surge past the iPhone, a perhaps equally vocal contingent has pointed out that iOS is much larger than just the iPhone and that Android has only just started pushing into the tablet market and has yet to forge an effort into the non-phone touch device market.

But yesterday, comScore finally put some numbers behind that latter argument, building off its earlier report regarding February data on smartphone usage to reveal that the overall iOS platform of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch reaches 37.9 million users in the U.S., 59% greater than the reach of Android.Initial research indicates that Apple's iOS platform, which resides on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, has a combined platform reach of 37.9 million among all mobile phones, tablets and other such connected media devices, outreaching the Android platform by 59 percent.Rather than simply counting device sales, comScore's data tracks individual users, making that 37.9 million number reflective of users (some of whom have more than one iOS device) rather than devices directly.

As a result, Apple's iOS reaches 16.2% of the 234 million mobile platform users in the United States, with Android registering at 10.2% with 23.8 million users.

But perhaps most notably, comScore finds that there is not a tremendous amount of overlap in users, with only 10.5% of iOS users accessing the system from multiple devices such as an iPhone and iPad or iPhone and iPod touch."These data clearly illustrate the Apple ecosystem extends far beyond the iPhone," added [comScore senior vice president of mobile Mark] Donovan. "Though it's frequently assumed that the Apple user base is composed of dedicated Apple 'fanboys', there's not a tremendous amount of overlapping mobile device access among these users. This of course has significant implications for the developer community as they consider the market potential in developing applications for different mobile platforms."

The survey also shows a broad appeal for the iPad, moving well beyond existing iPhone users to appeal to users of smartphones from a number of other companies. In particular, LG, Samsung, and Nokia smartphone users are overrepresented when it comes to iPad ownership, while users of Research in Motion and Motorola smartphones are somewhat underrepresented in iPad ownership. According to the survey, only 27.3% of iPad owners are also iPhone owners, while 17.5% are BlackBerry owners, 14.3% are Samsung owners, and 12.1% are LG owners.

Article Link: iOS Platform Reach Exceeds Android's By 59% in U.S.

 

[hcho3]

Good apple. Good....!

 

[Full of Win]

I'm sure this data will be coming to a Keynote near you.

The trend is your friend, and unless Apple can turn it around, the trend is clearly moving toward a marginalization of iOS.

 

[parapup]

iOS World Frustration Index suddenly dropped to bottom. Numbers finally start to matter again. Once they add Macs, Mac Pros, Mac Minis, refurb resales etc. to the list (when they run iOS) - it will be time to declare victory

 

[macse30]

How do they track individual users to know that one person owns multiple devices?

Marginalization of iOS!? That's some funny stuff. One company has more market share than all others combined and you talk marginalization. Full of hot air.

 

[cube]

What are they calling a smartphone? Any Series 60 phone is a smartphone.

 

[Žalgiris]

How do they track individual users to know that one person owns multiple devices?

Marginalization of iOS!? That's some funny stuff. One company has more market share than all others combined and you talk marginalization. Full of hot air.

I think it's not air he's full of

 

[jll62]

This is what many of us have been suggesting for a while now. Smartphone market share is not the be-all/end-all. iOS usage as a whole is a far more important indicator of what's going on because you don't have traditional carrier lock-ins with the non-phone devices.

 

[nagromme]

Not only has Apple’s mobile platform share been artificially cut down by separating out the iPhone alone, the other mobile device makers have had their share artificially increased, by lumping them all together! But since those devices vary in size, version and capabilities so much, they do NOT add up to a single platform in the way iOS does. Not for developers, not for device makers, and not for users.

 

[JimEJr]

Android OS devices were as a group moving full steam ahead due to VZW not having the iPhone. But, we're already seeing the Android surge slow some as VZW customers that were buying Android devices simply to have the closest thing to an iPhone no longer need to make such a compromise AND Android based tablets are falling well short of expectations...even various Android-favoring blogs are admitting such. I don't think that means Android is in trouble, I just think that Android is not going to crush iOS like some thought 3-9 months ago. What will be interesting are results from VZW for a full quarter with the iPhone and the next two years as existing customers with Android devices are due for upgrades...what will they choose.

Apple clearly has the momentum still and to their benefit they are slowly and strategically working all screens...handheld, tablet, computer, portable gaming, console gaming and living room. iOS apps coming to Macs in just a few months. I think it is widely expected that we will soon be seeing an Apple TV refresh or a "full" Apple engineered TV with iOS app capabilities.

As newbies to Apple, and especially iOS, really hone in on being able to buy an app once and run on all these, or at least more than one, screen, the attractiveness of Android will diminish. Google certainly has the resources to likewise compete...but will they? I think Amazon can too, if they want to. Facebook shouldn't even try...no FB phone, please! Time will tell.

 

[strabes]

How do they count users?

My family has three iPhones and an Apple TV, all on the same iTunes account. Do we count as one user? I'd like to see how these numbers are calculated.

 

[Aquaporin]

The iOS ecosystem is more mature than the Android system, and for that I am very happy for being on the iOS bandwagon.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

iOS World Frustration Index suddenly dropped to bottom. Numbers finally start to matter again. Once they add Macs, Mac Pros, Mac Minis, refurb resales etc. to the list (when they run iOS) - it will be time to declare victory

Victory? Apple is at war?

 

[ziggyonice]

Finally, some statistics that are actually presented clearly.

It's always bugged me when groups compare iPhone to "Android devices" because there's only one brand of iPhone when there's tons of various Android phones. Didn't seem fair to just chop off the rest of iOS.

Glad this study was done by a major group. Maybe this'll shut up some of the pro-Android, anti-Apple crowd.

Not only has Apple’s mobile platform share been artificially cut down by separating out the iPhone alone, the other mobile device makers have had their share artificially increased, by lumping them all together! But since those devices vary in size, version and capabilities so much, they do NOT add up to a single platform in the way iOS does. Not for developers, not for device makers, and not for users.

Exactly.

 

[ciTiger]

iOS World Frustration Index suddenly dropped to bottom. Numbers finally start to matter again. Once they add Macs, Mac Pros, Mac Minis, refurb resales etc. to the list (when they run iOS) - it will be time to declare victory

That's a nice one ahah!

But seriously these statistics are very good to get a notion on how things are progressing.

 

[Consultant]

I'm sure this data will be coming to a Keynote near you.

The trend is your friend, and unless Apple can turn it around, the trend is clearly moving toward a marginalization of iOS.

LOL. Marginalized. Maybe you forgot the smiley?

Let's see, largest mobile software store. Most profitable mobile software store (for developers). Most profitable mobile device.
Surely it's marginalized when the other companies are giving away their products for market share (and losing money in the same time).

 

[dethmaShine]

The iOS ecosystem is more mature than the Android system, and for that I am very happy for being on the iOS bandwagon.

Android doesn't have an ecosystem. The only thing that's close to have a full ecosystem is MS but even that lacks in a lot of major areas. So does apple's though in terms of mail/calendar/contact and sync in general. [MobileMe is NOT free. :|]

webOS seems pretty good but HP swears not to ship any product until the others swipe the market already.

I love the Apple ecosystem. It's so rich and fits in every day life; from pro-work to easy living, its all there.

 

[shartypants]

That's great, but I imagine that could change (assuming someone can build an android tablet cheaper than the iPad )

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8H7)

I'm sure this data will be coming to a Keynote near you.

The trend is your friend, and unless Apple can turn it around, the trend is clearly moving toward a marginalization of iOS.

Not according to their quarterly results.

 

[gatearray]

Poor Android fans...

Now the truth we've suspected all along has come out.

First, Google decides to hold on to their source code, making Android "closed" just like iOS, and now they find out that their OS is not the most prevalent mobile operating system in use, falling way short of iOS.



Schadenfreude? You bet.

 

[AppleDroid]

Great news for Apple as far as iOS implementation but comparing including iPod touch doesn't really seem like a fair comparison since Android isn't on any PMP devices.

So as it stands, correct me if I'm wrong, but:

1. Mobile PHONES, Android > iOS
2. Include tablets and PMP iOS > Android by a good margin

 

[silentnite]

With all the apple products my family and I own, we must count for a good percent of that.

 

[cirus]

[url=https://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

While much has been made of Android's rapid gains in the smartphone market that has seen it surge past the iPhone, a perhaps equally vocal contingent has pointed out that iOS is much larger than just the iPhone and that Android has only just started pushing into the tablet market and has yet to forge an effort into the non-phone touch device market.

But yesterday, comScore finally put some numbers behind that latter argument, building off its earlier report regarding February data on smartphone usage to reveal that the overall iOS platform of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch reaches 37.9 million users in the U.S., 59% greater than the reach of Android.Rather than simply counting device sales, comScore's data tracks individual users, making that 37.9 million number reflective of users (some of whom have more than one iOS device) rather than devices directly.

As a result, Apple's iOS reaches 16.2% of the 234 million mobile platform users in the United States, with Android registering at 10.2% with 23.8 million users.

But perhaps most notably, comScore finds that there is not a tremendous amount of overlap in users, with only 10.5% of iOS users accessing the system from multiple devices such as an iPhone and iPad or iPhone and iPod touch.
Image

The survey also shows a broad appeal for the iPad, moving well beyond existing iPhone users to appeal to users of smartphones from a number of other companies. In particular, LG, Samsung, and Nokia smartphone users are overrepresented when it comes to iPad ownership, while users of Research in Motion and Motorola smartphones are somewhat underrepresented in iPad ownership. According to the survey, only 27.3% of iPad owners are also iPhone owners, while 17.5% are BlackBerry owners, 14.3% are Samsung owners, and 12.1% are LG owners.

Article Link: iOS Platform Reach Exceeds Android's By 59% in U.S.

I don't think that they should include the ipod touch. There is no android equivalent. iOS has been out longer too, they will have previous market saturation (android released october 2008 more than a year after iOS). We need to look at the growth numbers.

I like how they can track individual users (scares me).

 

[PlipPlop]

We all know Android is unstoppable with the 350k phones it sells a day. Some lame firm bribed by Apple have now decided to include none phone devices to try and blind the public. It wont work we all know Android is conquering the smart phone business.

 

[marksman]

I saw this news on TechCrunch yesterday, and it just confirms the obvious.

It is always so ridiculous how people try to manipulate the numbers to always give android a lead, which NEVER makes any sense. As nobody benefits from the combined platform of Android except google and even then it is questionable how much real benefit it is to them.

The individual makers get no benefit from 20 other companies also making android devices, in fact it hurts them.

The extensive installed IOS userbase is important, as is the ability to seemlessly have an IOS that extends multiple devices. Android will never do that in any competitive way due to fragmentation. Apple has a massive advantage there. A single company with multiple products tied into a single ecosystem. Android fails streets behind there.

Apple has the best selling smartphone, the best selling tablet, the best selling mp3 player/game device. They individually dominate in every segment, and combined dominate in OS overall for mobile/portable devices.