750M Android Devices Activated To Date

Android is the world’s most used mobile platform today,
says Google CEO Larry Page. In a blog post last week, Page quickly shared a few numbers supporting his statement that Android is the current King of the Hill. What do you think about global partnerships with over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices that have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps which have been downloaded from Google Play? Those numbers are pretty impressive, to be sure.



These numbers are
especially
noteworthy if you go
back several months, when Google released numbers for Android activations. In September 2012,
there were supposed to be 500 million activations.
A 250-million increase is not bad at all, is it?

Analysts seem to agree on the idea that Android is the clear leader in the smartphone market. With so many manufacturers opting to run their devices on Android, as opposed to only Apple using iOS, this is really not a bone of contention. Additionally, sales figures from 2012 indicate that Android dominates the smartphone OS market, with 69.7% market share in the last quarter, with iOS having 20.9%. All the rest of the competition are lagging far, far behind.

What may prove to be a trickier thing is the estimates on number of Android activations. In an analysis of the September 2012 announcement (the 500-million figure), Ben Evans raises valid questions.

• How are devices which are activated twice treated/counted? These are the devices that are sold/given second hand, which is obviously a growing market.
• What about the many Android devices in China which do not come installed with Google services (necessary when counting activations)?

In short, we do have an idea of how many Android devices have been activated, but it’s more on the estimate side than on the precise side. Precise or not, the numbers are something to contend with. And how about this prediction?

With the estimated figures at this point in time, the 1-billion mark is not such an impossible target. It does (or doesn’t, depending on which camp you’re from) help that Samsung’s phones are getting more and more interesting.