Android Poised For Strong Q4 Share Gains

By Joseph Palenchar On Nov 8 2010 - 6:01am

NEW YORK — Android smartphones made strong gains in third-quarter smartphone share among U.S. consumers and are poised for further gains now that a variety of entrylevel handsets have been launched at price points down to $9.99.

Android’s third-quarter gains in consumers’ smartphone purchases, excluding enterprise purchases, came mostly at the expense of RIM’s BlackBerry OS but also at Apple’s expense, an NPD Group survey of consumers found.

RIM, however, hopes to turn up the competitive heat with the launch of a third BlackBerry 6 OS phone, the candybar-style Blackberry Bold 9780 through T-Mobile at $129.99 after $50 mail-in rebate beginning Nov. 17. It joins Sprint’s BlackBerry Style 9670 flip phone with full QWERTY keyboard and no touchscreen and AT&T’s Torch touchscreen/slider.

For its part, Microsoft is also aiming to rebuild its share, but Microsoft’s fourth-quarter gains will be limited given the limited selection this quarter and price points of $199. The first models arrive Nov. 8 when AT&T’s Samsung-made Focus hits stores followed “a few weeks” later by the LG Quantum with slide-from-the-side keyboard and HTC-made Surround. All three are priced at $199.

Two other Windows phones due in time for the holidays, said Microsoft, are T-Mobile’s planned HTC-made HD7, which the carrier said is due in mid-November, and Dell’s Venue Pro, designed for the T-Mobile network with slide-down vertical keyboard.

For its part, HP’s Palm WebOS is not completely out of the running because the company unveiled the Palm Pre 2 with a next-gen WebOS, launched it in Europe, and plans a launch through Verizon Wireless in the coming months.

Going up against these launches are new low-priced Android phones from T-Mobile and Samsung.

T-Mobile’s low-priced Android phones are:

• T-Mobile Huawei-made Comet, which became available Nov. 3 at $9.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement and qualifying data plan. It will also be available as a prepaid phone in Best Buy, RadioShack and Target stores at less than $200. The Comet features 528MHz processor, 2.8-inch full touchscreen display, and 3.2-megapixel camera. It’s targeted to consumers said to be “ready to make the affordable transition to their first smartphone,” the carrier said.

• LG Optimus T with Google, available Nov. 3 at $29.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement and qualifying data plan. The device features customizable home screen, 600MHz processor, 3.2-inch full touchscreen display, and 3.2-megapixel camera with video capture.

• Motorola Charm, which is already available at $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year agreement. The Charm has a full QWERTY keyboard, 2.8-inch touchscreen, Backtrack touchpad on back, 600MHz processor and 3-megapixel camera.

• Motorola Defy at $99.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a two-year agreement and qualifying data plan. A precise availability date wasn’t released. The scratchand water-resistant device is dust-proof and comes with 800MHz processor, 3.7-inch full touchscreen, and 5-megapixel camera with flash and video capture.

The launches follow a start by Sprint of two of its own low-priced Android phones. One is the LG Optimus S, which became available Oct. 31 in Sprint channels at $49.99 after $100 rebate with data plan. The other Sprint phone is the Sanyo Zio from Kyocera. It debuted Oct. 10 in Sprint channels at $99.99 with two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

To go with its low-cost Android quartet, T-Mobile unveiled lower data-plan prices for smartphones and expects to offer them during the holiday season. A 200MB/month plan, previously available only for feature phones, will be available for $10 per month with a new two-year service agreement or $15/month without contract. An unlimited data plan for smartphones is $30/month like before.

T-Mobile also unveiled its first Wi-Fitethering plans to let users connect their Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or other portable device to the Internet via a Wi-Fi-equipped cellphone. The tethering plan at $14.99/ month is available only in conjunction with the $30/month unlimited-data plan.

The T-Mobile launches will likely help boost Android’s fourth-quarter share, but in the third quarter, Android share already accounted for the top share of smartphone sales to consumers, with Apple’s OS coming in second and RIM dropping to a close third, NPD’s survey found.

Android was installed in 44 percent of all smartphones purchased by consumers in the third quarter, up sequentially from the second quarter’s 33 percent, with Apple’s iOS rising sequentially by only 1 percentage point to 23 percent. RIM’s OS share declined sequentially to 22 percent from 28 percent.

Android’s rise and BlackBerry’s decline is more evident in third-quarter year-over-year comparisons. Android’s share rose on a year-over-year basis from 3 percent to 44 percent, while RIM’s share fell from 46 percent to 22 percent. Apple’s share also fell, but more moderately from 19 percent to 23 percent.

“Much of Android’s quarterly share growth came at the expense of RIM, rather than Apple,” said Ross Rubin, NPD’s industry analysis executive director. “The HTC Evo 4G, Motorola Droid X and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide.”

NPD’s Mobile Phone Track survey tracks consumers, aged 18 and older, who reported purchasing a mobile phone.