“Hot on the heels of Samsung admitting that it had exaggerated sales of its Android tablet to consumers, it is becoming clear that Google’s Android platform definition is being stretched to include Chinese rivals, including China Mobile’s Ophone and Tapas OS, a project run by the former president of Google China,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“A report by Canalys yesterday claimed that Google Android platform had taken the top spot in global smartphone platforms worldwide, edging in front of Nokia and making up about a third of all smartphones globally,” Dilger reports. “That fourth quarter figure, collective of all manufacturers using Android in some fashion, is double that of Apple’s Q4 iPhone sales, a dramatic reversal of last year, when Apple’s sales were twice that of all Android licensees together, according to Canalys. However, the report’s numbers included a footnote saying the ‘Google numbers’ ‘relate to Android, as well as the OMS and Tapas platform variants.'”
Dilger continues, “OMS is not Google Android… Tapas OS is not Google Android… How many of the 33 million “Android” handsets are actually benefitting Google and the users of Android platform (who benefit from a larger installed base for apps only if the installed base is actually made up of compatible devices) was not split out by Canalys. Clearly however, such a disclaimer would not need to have been made if the addition of those Chinese rivals had not been necessary to beat Nokia’s Symbian.
“Gartner similarly counted blockbuster growth for Android in the third quarter of 2011, but relegated most of this growth into a bucket of ‘other’ manufacturers. The top tier of recognizable Android makers, including HTC, Motorola and Samsung, all of which Google has partnered with to release new versions of Android, have all experienced far more moderate growth in sales numbers (or in the case of Motorola, shrinking sales),” Dilger writes. “That suggests most the growth in ‘Android’ numbers is coming from no-name vendors selling devices in countries such as China, using devices that don’t support Google’s development of the OS (via ads or search services) nor even expand the platform in any meaningful way that could benefit Android users.”
More in the full article, including a very telling graphic, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why all the hyped up, overinflated Android numbers lately? Whatever could be the impetus (cough, Verizon iPhone, cough? Google or somebody sounds like they’re getting really worried about developers’ interest, or lack thereof, in Android.