Android outsells Iphones!

According to new data from Nielsen, smartphones running Google’s Android operating system outsold those running Apple’s iOS in the first half of 2010 by a margin of 27% to 23% of the US market. The news builds on data from NPD that showed the same result in the first quarter, when Android claimed 28% of smartphone sales to iPhone’s 21%.
It should be noted that iPhone 4 only went on sale in the last week of the second quarter, meaning that iOS might actually be closer to AndroidAndroid than those numbers would have you believe, given the robust sales numbers we’ve seen for Apple’s new device.
Nonetheless, the longer-term trend remains intact – as more and more Android devices launch across manufacturers and carriers, it continues to gain marketshare in the US and around the world (another study out today shows Android shipments up 886% year-over-year worldwide).
Of course, that strategy is vastly different than that of Apple, who is the only manufacturer of iOS devices and in the US, offers its device only on AT&T. Considering that strategy is buoying the company to record profits quarter after quarter, Android outselling iOS is not so much an alarming sign for Apple as it is a maturation of Google’s mobile strategy and the smartphone market as a whole.
That said, Nielsen’s stats also suggest a fair number of Android users – 21% to be exact – still have iPhone envy and would like to make the switch for their next device. The opposite is true for only 6% of iPhone owners. It will be interesting to see how an iPhone on a different carrier might change the dynamics of this ongoing battle.