Attn: mobileCAD developers. There is but one market, and it is named 'Android'

World domination is a nice present for anyone's 4th birthday party.

Latest stats show Android swallowing up the mobile world, now at 75% market share. Not only growing to be the biggest, but growing the fastest, too. If you write an app for Android, your market is 5x larger than for iOS.

I point this out, because the CTO of a CAD company told me that he sees iPhones "everywhere." Just sit at a cafe (this was in Europe), and watch people, he told me. "Everyone I see is using an iPhone." He uses an iPhone, of course, and so his company's first mobile software will be written for iOS.

I think he is, however, suffering from association malady (my term). You can experience the effect when you get a new automobile, say a Honda CR-V. Suddenly, you are noticing how many Honda CR-Vs are on the road. "There goes one... there's another one... wow, another one!" -- something you would not have noticed before your purchase. Similarly, I use Androids, and so what stands out for me is the large number of people not using iPhones.

So, it is important to debase your subjective association malady through objective statistics. (Objective statistics can, of course, become subjective when we pick those that match our perception.)

Now, there are two parameters you need to check before accepting marketshare claims: (a) is the market of one geography, like USA, or of the entire world? and (b) is the marketshare of the last three months, or for all recorded time?

The answers in this case are (a) the entire world; and (b) as of the last three months, as described here:

According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75.0% of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12.

Here's the breakdown of just how broadly Androids phone -- not tablets, note -- are used:

Android

• 136 million units shipped in Q3
• 92% year-over-year growth
• 75% marketshare in Q3

 iOS

• 30 millions units shipped in Q3
• 57% year-over-year growth
• 15% marketshare

Everyone else has 4% or smaller market share. Because Android is growing twice as fast as iOS, next year's numbers will be even worse for Apple. Happy 4th Anniversary, Android!  

Source: 
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23771812

 

 

Comments

[Billdemuro]

In the nascent app world I will agree with your vision, users will still suffer from the poor UX of Android. Next gen web apps will make the platform choice tilt to the graphics, bandwidth and WebKit performance metrics regardless of OS badge.

[NAK]

To report only 3Q news is to tell only 1 quarter of the story. This is historically Apple's weakest in terms of iPhone sales, as it comes right before the new product launch. I think it's also worth noting that many android phones don't have the processing power, screen real estate, or full google play access to take advantage of CAD software.

That being said, I'm not sure I can see doing any CAD work on a phone of any kind; maybe on a tablet... I wonder who holds the highest market share for tablets? Talk about assoc. malady. Sheesh.

[Ralph Grabowski]

The numbers are out this morning for worldwide tablet marketshare, and it shows Apple plummeted from 66% to 50% in just three months. In contrast, the marketshare for Samsung doubled in the same time.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/05/idc-tablet-shipments-Q3-2012/

[Kevin E.]

Yes Ralph, and from that very article you list about the iPad marketshare "plummeting".

"IDC attributes this to consumers holding off for the iPad mini, but expects some of these procrastinators will choose Android tablets....."

[Ralph Grabowski]

The important word is "expects." This is speculative, as opposed to the facts of plummeting iPad market share for the last three months.

[Allanbehrens]

As an Android user (phone and pad) I too am frustrated with the 2nd tier app development mentality of some software companies wrt Android support. It'll be interesting to see developer take-up on Windows 8 (RT and Pro) over the next months, won't it?

[Jason]

That CTO wouldn't happen to be SolidWorks would it? They release an iPAD version of eDrawings and yet ignore Android saying the user base just isn't there.

Of course they only created an iPad app, doesn't work on an iPhone which is short sighted IMO as there are far more phones out there than tablets.Especially with the phone screens getting larger and some devices straddling the line between phone and tablet.

They (SolidWorks) are quick to jump on the cloud bandwagon yet don't support the major OS's that make working in the cloud easier.

[Ralph Grabowski]

No, the CTO was not of Solidworks. He was European.

[Starfox]

Market share is not relevant for a company if nobody pays for their apps.

And the fact is that iOS users are willing to pay. Not the vast majority of Android users. That´s the reason why iTunes still has 70% of the revenue of the online mobile stores.

Also, tablets. CAD/PLM/3Dx apps will run on tablets, not phones. And here, the iPad is the dominant player, and will be for the years to come.