Android Handsets Starting to Take Serious Hold

If you haven't checked up on how Android is faring vis-à-vis the mobile OS wars, it's creeping up faster than Seth Wescott at a snowboard cross race. Admob's latest statistics (http://metrics.admob.com/2010/01/december-2009-mobile-metrics-report/) have Android handsets generating 27% of smartphone network requests in North America. Thats up from only 2% the previous December. AND, that's right on the heels of the much-anticipated Android 2.0 OS upgrade. We'd say that this OS is finally coming into its own.

As has been posited by others, Android is the OS of choice among serious geeks. iPhones? Not so much. While you may have trouble swinging an XBOX controller at marketing conventions without hitting one, hardcore geeks eschew the closed platform and limited application span. But then, aren't all these Android phones running on closed systems like T-Mobile and Verizon? I think we'll see significant increases in Android presence now that the Nexus One is out (only problem there is the price, but that's another topic for another post for another day...) Of course, the Nexus One won't run on AT&T's 3G network (not compatible with that frequency) but then, AT&T's 3G network is so anemic, it probably couldn't take another bandwidth-hungry smartphone anyway, so iPhone users can call that one a blessing in disguise.

But what will the power of the OS be once it starts penetrating other devices? BMW has discussed using Android as the basis of their infotainment systems, and we know we can't wait for a washer-dryer set powered by Android. Although we are unabashed fans (and users) of the iPhone, we'd rather have an Android-based home security system than an iPhone OS-based one. If only the Google gang could figure out how to harness their marketing department as well as Apple harnesses theirs...