Google's Android Surpasses Apple iPhone in Smart Phone Market Share in the First Quarter of 2010

Google's Android mobile device operating system has beaten Apple's iPhone operating system in the first quarter. It slid to number 2 in the U.S. consumer smartphone market.

Number 1 in the market is the Blackberry operating system. The iPhone operating system was in second place, however, this quarter Google's Android has slid to number 2, forcing iPhone back down to third place.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo Credit: Apple Inc. "][/caption]

Google's Android operating system had a 28 percent market share in the first quarter of 2010. Blackberry, which is in the top spot, has 36 percent and Apple's iPhone has a 21 percent market share.

The Android operating system is available on a variety of different phones. This gives people a choice of which phone they want while still having the Android operating system. Meanwhile, Apple's operating system is only available on the iPhone.

Verizon is really promoting the Android so that gives that operating system a huge boost. Apple is just doing their normal promotion, nothing special. This means that Google's Android has a head start in this next quarter so their numbers might even rise further above the iPhone.

CNN comments, "There is no question that Apple's iPhone is still very popular. Last month, AT&T reported that it had activated about 900,000 iPhones for new customers during the first quarter. It also sold another 1.8 million iPhones to people who were already AT&T customers. Without the iPhone, AT&T's subscriber growth for contract customers would have been negative.

But the NPD findings suggest that sales of the phone could be even higher in the U.S. if the device was available on other carrier networks, such as Verizon Wireless. Reports surfaced in March that the iPhone could be coming to Verizon soon. But definite plans for a Verizon iPhone have still not been announced.

'If the iPhone was available today on Verizon, Apple would certainly grow market share," Rubin said. "But it's harder to say what will happen in the long term. It's difficult to know what the feature-set will look like on phones in a year. But it's clear the iPhone still has enough cachet today to pick up market share.'"