Andy Rubin, through a Google Plus post, has revealed that search giant Google now activates over a whopping 700,000 Android devices each and every single day.
Andy later clarified that each activation in this figure represents a completely new device, being activated for the first time, "...and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and 'activations' means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service." he said.
This figure is up massively from July, where the firm announced that it was seeing 550,000 activations per day. Perhaps then, these numbers go some way to explaining figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, that, despite increases in market share in Great Britain, Australia and the U.S., show a drop in iPhone market share for mainland Europe and other territories.
The figures show that in Great Britain, the iPhone market share has risen from 21 to 31 per cent since September and from 26 to 36 per cent in the U.S., however in France market share dropped from 29 to 20 per cent, in Germany a drop from 27 to 22 per cent and with similar figures for Italy and Spain, over the past year. There's a clear correlation between market gain and the belated release of the iPhone 4S for markets where shares have increased, however, we wonder exactly what has led to the drop in market shares across other territories; suggestions are that during the economic crunch Europeans have become increasingly sensitive to price, whilst evidence also shows handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S II, have been extremely successful, with the device topping sales in Germany's mobile market.
With Samsung expected to release the Galaxy S III in the first-half of next year, along with an exceptional line-up of devices from many Android OEMs, which will all be running the soon to roll-out Android 4.0, prospects are looking good for Google. For Apple, prospects look likely to be steered by the world economy, as its premium products with their premium prices are appearing especially sensitive to economic wealth.
