The multitude of stories that have recently come up singing praises of Android for growing at a mind numbing 861.5 percent seem to be fairly justified at first sight. However, there is a hidden truth here that everyone seems to be forgetting. The market revenues of Android are still flimsy to say the least. Yes, the company did show a staggering growth in 2010, however, that is accounted for by the fact that it barely had an existence in 2009 and thus with the market moving a fair share of Android based devices, the annual growth stats overrate the popularity of the mobile platform.
A chart that has come out of HIS, a research firm based in the United Kingdom, reports that the share of the Android market have grown to an amount of $102 million in the year 2010 from the $11 million that it was worth in 2009. This might look very impressive when looked at in isolation, however when you consider that Apple’s revenues for the same year came in for around $1.7 billion, 20 times more than Android, you have to agree that it isn’t yet the hottest platform on the planet yet.
On top of that, the Apple App Store also registered a growth of 131.9 percent, which when taken in with their total revenue is quite impressive. The company also holds an 83 percent monopoly over the total revenues the mobile phone app industry makes on an average annually. So, sure it looks as if Android is growing at a very fast pace, and it certainly is, but you also ought to consider what these stats are based upon. If it plans to one day actually challenge Apple at the level where it is today, Android will have to keep growing at a similar rate for many more years to come.
