Android more popular than iOS in Australia
Honestly. The way some people (read:everyone I know) carry on, you'd think that iPhone's were the only Smartphone legally and morally permissible. You could even be forgiven for thinking that, like the INXS Kick album*, every Australian household had received one as standard issue in the post.
New data compiled by new kids on the block Telsyte, an emerging technology research firm, proves that this simply isn't the case. For the first time since God (Steve Jobs) decreed that 'Thou Shalt Conduct One's Life Via Smartphone', Google's Android operating system now outnumbers Apple's iOS based iPhone device. The numbers aren't startling; 44 percent to Android, 43 percent to iOS.
It is, however, the first time Android has been able to lay claim to the largest stake in the smartphone market. So what might account for this shift toward the Android? The Telsyte research demonstrates that lower prices, faster product cycles, and carrier support are the primary factors working in the Android's favour.
Apple should certainly be breaking a bit of a sweat over this one, however they can at least content themselves with the knowledge that they still have the highest repeat purchase intention among customers. Which, loosely translated, means; once an iPhone user, always an iPhone user.
Which is more than can be said for INXS fans. The Telsyte research additionally shows that the high lock-in rates of some vendors mean it's impossible to predict whether the Android or the iPhone will win out amongst those not yet using smartphones.
For now, Android should be proud to have (I'm sorry, I cannot resist this terrible pun) taken a little bite out of a giant Apple.
For more information and to read the full press release, click here
James Richardson
Co-Founder
James is Co-Founder of Optimising who’s worked with everyone from national retailers and franchise groups to fast-growing eCommerce brands. He’s as interested in how AI engines send traffic as he is in old-fashioned rankings, and spends a lot of time testing how brands show up across search.
He started out running sports fan sites and early eCommerce stores, picked up a few senior sales and marketing roles at ASX-listed companies, then decided to build the kind of SEO agency he actually wanted to work at. Outside work, James is usually being out-negotiated by his three daughters, hosting very serious pretend tea parties, or supervising yet another cubby house build in the lounge room.
