Even though Apple Inc.’s media event this week focused on TVs and the iPod, the company took time to hype its wireless stats, all in an apparent attempt to downplay the scary-fast growth of rival Google’s Android platform.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company sees 230,000 new activations of iOS-based devices – iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad – every day. “We think we’re ahead of everyone else" – most likely meaning Android OS developer Google – because “we think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," Jobs said, according to Business Insider.
Google has since issued its riposte, saying Android activation numbers – 200,000 per day, thank you very much – do not include upgrades “and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services." (Thanks again to Business Insider for the quote.)
We consider that an “Oh, snap!" situation because Jobs’ stats include the iPad and iPod – not just the iPhone. And Jobs has good reason to be fearful. Google is about to charge into the tablet computer market on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, and already Android has become the No. 1 mobile operating system in the United States – Android ranks third worldwide, behind the BlackBerry and Symbian platforms, according to research firm Gartner Inc.
And where’s Apple’s iOS in those standings? It’s fourth worldwide. Just goes to show how letting people run an open platform, and allowing them to load apps of their choice onto devices of their choice, works so well.
