Android Gains Ground on iPhone, Blackberry
Comscore released the results of a new survey on Thursday which shows evidence that consideration of phones running the Android operating system is growing among consumers who compare smartphones to buy.
While 20 percent of consumers considering a smartphone purchase note they will look at possibly purchasing an iPhone, 17% of consumers in the Comscore survey indicate they will evaluate an Android-powered device.
Analysts are quick to point to Verizon's aggressive campaign to promote Droid, and its direct attack on the AT&T iPhone has been key to growing awareness of the open OS. With an expanding application marketplace and more handsets to choose from this holiday season, there is mounting evidence that Android is gaining momentum among consumers and developers.
Although the T-Mobile G1 contributed one million customers to the Android customer base, back in August of this year Comscore found only 7% of survey respondents indicated they'd consider one of the two T-Mobile Android-powered devices, the only Android products available on the market at the time.
Overall awareness of Android has increased in the general US consumer population since the summer when only 22% of mobile users said they had heard of Android. By November, after Verizon's launch of Droid, that number grew to 37%.
The survey also revealed the continuing popularity of the Blackberry Pearl, which had the highest purchase intent among smartphone buyers at 19% of respondents, surpassing the iPhone at 14%. The Palm Pre, a recent entrant in the smartphone market, lags with only 2% of respondents indicating an intention to buy.
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