The Android has landed. 17 percent of people in the U.S. currently planning to buy a smartphone within the next three months are considering one that runs Google's mobile OS, while 20 percent indicated that iPhone would be their choice. That's according to a report released yesterday by analyst firm comScore. The survey, conducted in November, polled 2,300 people.
What will be the next app phone you buy for yourself? Will it be one you most like to use yourself, or the one that you plan to write apps for? Perhaps it will be both. Two years ago, the answer on most people's lips was, of course, "iPhone." And it remains so today, but outwardly similar "all touch" phones are now running Android, BlackBerry, PalmOS and Windows. While Google's star appears to be rising and RIM loyalists remain loyal, fortunes of Palm and Microsoft in the mobile arena appear to be on the wane. Only 3 percent said they were considering a Palm Pre or Centro. The the AT&T Tilt, which was the only Windows Mobile device to make the list, was thought of by 2 percent of respondents.
The 17 percent preference figure for Android includes the Verizon Droid (8%), the T-Mobile MyTouch (5%) and T-mobile's G1 (1%); there also was an "other Android" category. The single most desirous device was the BlackBerry Pearl (18%), followed by the iPhone 3GS (14).