Android Invades iPhone Universe: Androiders Love Mobile Media, 18% Plan to Buy BlackBerry Pearl, Says comScore

blackberrypearl.jpgcomScore is keeping score on the mobile space. Android is gaining
momentum, more people are considering buying an Android phone, while
18% of those surveyed intend to buy a BlackBerry Pearl.

comScore, Inc. released, Android: Crashing the Smartphone Party. Among the report’s key findings is that consumer awareness of
Google’s Android is growing rapidly, due in large part to the Verizon
Droid ad campaign. Further, of those American consumers in the market
for a smartphone, 17 percent are considering the purchase of an
android-supported device in next three months, compared to 20 percent
indicating they plan to purchase an iPhone.

Android and iPhone Users Consume More Mobile Media than Average Smartphone User

Although
Android’s share of the smartphone market is relatively small, it has
quickly doubled in the past year to 3.5 percent in October 2009.
Understanding the mobile media behavior of Android users highlights why
operators and media companies might embrace the platform and fuel its
growth.

An analysis of mobile media consumption on smartphones revealed
that users of both Apple and Android-supported devices were more likely
to engage with mobile media than an average smartphone user. Users of
the Apple iPhone were most likely to consume mobile media, with 94
percent of users doing so in September 2009, while 92 percent of
Android device users, predominantly T-Mobile G1 users, engaged in
mobile media activities, 12 percentage points higher than an average
smartphone user.

Apple and Android users were equally likely to
engage with news via their browser and nearly identical in their mobile
application engagement. Email was the only major activity in which
iPhone users (87 percent) were far more likely to participate than
Android users (63 percent). Overall, these data suggest that Android
users will behave more like iPhone users than other smartphone users.

Mobile Media Consumption by Operating System
(Percent of Operating System Users)
Three Month Average Ending September 2009
United States
Source: comScore MobiLens
  Operating System Penetration by Media Category
Mobile Media Email News/Info Browser Any App Social Networking Instant Messenger
Apple 94% 87% 80% 83% 58% 43%
Android 92% 63% 80% 82% 52% 46%
Smartphone 80% 70% 65% 59% 43% 37%
Non-Smartphone 26% 12% 14% 13% 8% 10%

17 Percent of Consumers in the Market for Smartphones Plan to Buy Android-Supported Device

Google’s
Android platform has continued to gain awareness among U.S. consumers.
In August 2009, just 22 percent of mobile users had heard of the
Android, while in November 2009 this figure had reached 37 percent,
largely prompted by the Verizon Droid advertising campaign launched in
the fall. The comScore study found that not only is general awareness
increasing about Android, but intent to purchase an Android-supported
device is also increasing among mobile phone users.

When mobile
users were asked in November which phone they planned to buy in the
next three months, 17 percent of respondents in the market for a new
smartphone said they planned to purchase an Android-supported device,
with 8 percent of those planning to purchase a Verizon Droid, compared
to 20 percent of respondents who said they planned to purchase an
iPhone during that same time period. In comparison, when survey
respondents answered this same question in August 2009, only 7 percent
indicated an intent to purchase either the T-Mobile G1 or the T-Mobile
MyTouch — which were the only Android-supported phones available at
the time — while 21 percent of respondents planned to purchase an
iPhone in the next three months.

Intended Smartphone Purchasers
Which phone to you plan to buy in the next 3 months?
Custom Survey, n = 2,300
November 2009
United States
Source: comScore, Inc.
Device % of Respondents
Blackberry Pearl 18%
iPhone 3GS 14%
Blackberry Storm 13%
Blackberry Curve 11%
Verizon Droid 8%
iPhone 3GS 6%
T-Mobile MyTouch 5%
Blackberry Bold 4%
Blackberry Tour 3%
Other Android Device 3%
Palm Pre 2%
Other Blackberry 2%
AT&T Tilt 2%
T-Mobile G1 1%
Palm Centro 1%
None of the Above 8%

For more information on the report, Android: Crashing the Smartphone Party, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2009/Android_Crashing_the_Smartphone_Party