Android usage figures in Ireland

ixoy

Does anyone know the number of Android phones in Ireland? Newspapers always mention the iPhone but rarely Android. Ads are generally about iPhone apps as well and many people only seem to know Apples inferior product.
I'd have thought the gap wasn't that big but reading some papers and talking to family members, I'd think otherwise.

srsly78

Ireland was late to the Android party, carriers didn't start really pushing it until about april/may this year. Thus we are lagging behind other countries. And yes, the media only ever talks about Apple products because it has better marketing etc and journalists are clueless about tech.

How to wind up an Android user:
Ask them "what type of iphone is that?"

meathgal2010

I read a figure a few months ago. think I have it on my other laptop at home ( used for presentation - work in industry).

500,000 iPhone users ( numbers falling)
280,000 Android users ( numbers fastly increasing)

I would think after this christmas and all the Androids sold into the prepay market Android is very close to overtaking ( can buy and android today for 99e). Plus the fact you cant get iphone 4 in ireland at the mo unless you go to three as Apple prioritise thier stock to bigger markets ie USA,UK

For Q3 in the USA 46% of phones sold were android VS 22 % iOS. Ireland always follow this trend about 9-12 months later. Fully expect Android to be no 1 os in Ireland by the end of 2011 if not sooner. ( Gartner 2010)

App developers are now developing for Android first and Apple second due to the larger customer base avail

ixoy

Yeah I knew sales were racing up to those of the iPhone in the States. I'm pleasantly surprised to see a similar trend here. Samsung and HTC are making some good inroads into this but there's still that idea in some heads that they're a poor man's iPhone.
It reminds me of how I had to constantly tell people that I had a Creative mp3 player which was not an ipod but actually better for my needs.

donspeekinglesh

Anecdotally speaking I know far more people who got Android devices this Christmas (and in the run into it), than iOS devices. And several more iOS users are looking to move to Android with their next phone. And none of the people could even remotely be considered geeks. Android is very mainstream now.
Irish newspapers are always behind the curve.

weeder

meathgal2010 wrote: »

( can buy and android today for 99e).

even better the vodafone 845 is only 59 euro. on pp

Heroditas

meathgal2010 wrote: »

I read a figure a few months ago. think I have it on my other laptop at home ( used for presentation - work in industry).

500,000 iPhone users ( numbers falling)
280,000 Android users ( numbers fastly increasing)

I would think after this christmas and all the Androids sold into the prepay market Android is very close to overtaking ( can buy and android today for 99e). Plus the fact you cant get iphone 4 in ireland at the mo unless you go to three as Apple prioritise thier stock to bigger markets ie USA,UK

I got my wife a HTC for Christmas and the girl in the Carphone Warehouse said that Android phones were hammering iphones in terms of sales numbers in Q4 this year.
She said the Galaxy S seemed to be the biggest reason for this because the phone was so cheap and that they expected the Desire HD to be their next big seller in early 2011.

bd250110

I think Android is a great platform. It does seem that everywhere I turn I see people with iPhone's. Android definitely offers a choice to people. I think the constant fanboy-isim is pointless.
iOS will probably always be a more stable, more polished, better integrated solution, with better marketing appeal (iOS App approval process keeps a certain standard - for better or worse). Android will probably always be that bit more advanced, more cutomisable and with faster processors, latest gismos (NFC on the Nexus S, etc), appealing to it's own market. I honeslty do not believe Android or iOS are "better", each individual will find one more "appealing" than the other, there are compromises attached to both.

The way I see it iOS is the cash-cow for app developers and networks. Android users may be able to benefit massively from this.

crimsonfire

Android will of course take over for a very simple reason. It's on a multitude of phones across several different manufacturers and networks whereas iOS is just the iPhone (you could probably lump in the iPad or iPod touch but the point stands).

bd250110

iPhone is available on all 4 Irish networks too, so I don't get your point.
Multiple manufacturers and form factors will, of course, help Android. However, if you truly believe Android will "take over" I'm afraid I can't agree with that. Android will gain market share but iOS is going nowhere.

Heroditas

bd250110 wrote: »

iPhone is available on all 4 Irish networks too, so I don't get your point.
Multiple manufacturers and form factors will, of course, help Android. However, if you truly believe Android will "take over" I'm afraid I can't agree with that. Android will gain market share but iOS is going nowhere.

There's a multitude of Android phones available at many different prices, particularly with lower tariff rates.
That will appeal to the younger users out there with less disposable income.

crimsonfire

Well it isn't really a fair fight to begin with is it? Like I said Android is a platform implemented on hundreds of different devices from many different manufacturers. Its market share vs iOS was always going to be good.

The only thing iPhones have going for them is you know exactly what you're getting. You buy an iPhone, it's an iPhone. There's a lot of subtle variation with Android that can put people off.

My Galaxy S bears very little resemblance to my friends SE X8 for example. It depends entirely on the phones hardware how well the OS functions. There are crap Android phones out there. I say that as a saddo Apple-hating, Android groupie. If someone likes an iPhone they'll stick with it because they know what they're getting.

Brian

meathgal2010 wrote: »

500,000 iPhone users

Eh, what? 1 in 7 people have an iPhone?

AlmightyCushion

Baza210 wrote: »

Eh, what? 1 in 7 people have an iPhone?

It's certainly possible if it relates to just sales figures. Someone could have a 1g,2g,3g that are sitting in a cupboard because they've upgraded to the newer ones. Up until recently I had four old phones just sitting in a drawer (two were ancient crap phones, one a k800i and a c905). Dumped the two old ones and sold the c905 so down to just one now. Also, broken/lost/stolen phones would be accounted in that.

ixoy

crimsonfire wrote: »

Well it isn't really a fair fight to begin with is it? Like I said Android is a platform implemented on hundreds of different devices from many different manufacturers. Its market share vs iOS was always going to be good.

That's a fair point but, from reading certain papers and talking to some people, there's a perception among the unenlightened that the only smart phone is an iPhone. I think one of the reasons is exactly what you're saying though:
I can say to my parents I have an Android phone. Who makes it? HTC.
Then someone else can say they also have an Android phone but Samsung make it.
In the mind of some then it's easier to just think of it as a HTC phone or a Samsung phone and not realise that they've got an awful lot in common in terms of functionality and application compatibility.

Anyone know how many Irish companies have both iPhone and Android apps? I'm not talking about software developers but more the likes of daft.ie, RTE, etc. There's definitely more appearing but I'd be curious as to see the distribution. With the Galaxy and HTC devices making strong sales, I'm wondering if we'll see both apps coming out simultaneously.

srsly78

Am not allowed to talk about specifics, but...

The largest native Irish IT company (look at irish times hot 10 IT list) does not develop apps for the iphone, because it simply is not allowed. Apple do not let people develop software that would compete with apples own offerings. In this case I can neither confirm nor deny that this Irish company developed software for a certain american carrier (largest in the world) that provided an online vault and media manager. This would be too close to iTunes and Apple would never allow it.

I can also neither confirm nor deny that I wrote software that is deployed on 100 million phones in America, but noone here will ever see it or hear about it

Yes, there is some serious Android development going on in Ireland, and am not talking about Google.

edit: Yeah these aren't mickey-mouse apps we are talking here. This is multi-million dollar stuff with 100+ developers. This Irish company is B2B, not B2C, so maybe people aren't aware of it. Oh, and we did stuff for pretty much every platform except for Apple. Damn I hate Blackberries after that job...... I REALLY hate blackberries -.- Not only are they **** to use, they are **** to develop for. Anyone that thinks a Blackberry is good needs their head examined. Maybe I got unlucky because I had to work with BB storm tho

Brian

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's certainly possible if it relates to just sales figures. Someone could have a 1g,2g,3g that are sitting in a cupboard because they've upgraded to the newer ones. Up until recently I had four old phones just sitting in a drawer (two were ancient crap phones, one a k800i and a c905). Dumped the two old ones and sold the c905 so down to just one now. Also, broken/lost/stolen phones would be accounted in that.

That's not a user, and isn't relevant in the context of "Android usage figures in Ireland" where it's presumably current circulation figures that are of interest.

smackyB

ixoy wrote: »

Anyone know how many Irish companies have both iPhone and Android apps? I'm not talking about software developers but more the likes of daft.ie, RTE, etc. There's definitely more appearing but I'd be curious as to see the distribution. With the Galaxy and HTC devices making strong sales, I'm wondering if we'll see both apps coming out simultaneously.

I can confirm first-hand that the daft Android app is well underway Also check out entertainment.ie who have both an iPhone and Android app. Other companies are (slowly) following suit in adopting Android as part of their app launch strategies but it's usually iPhone that gets priority.

crimsonfire

It's funny, my non-techie girlfriend got a Samsung Europa for Christmas. After slagging off my Galaxy S for being too "obnoxious". My point is that phones like the iPhone 4, Galaxy S, HTC Desire etc can scare off your average consumer who just wants a decent phone without all the bells and whistles. Of course this mindset is completely alien to us forum-dwelling technophiles .

iPhones, I'll concede, strike a good balance between functionality and user friendliness but can still be a bit too much phone for some. Android caters for the less tech-enthused consumer as well as the alpha nerds.

Cool Mo D

Android has a huge advantage in that there are android phones available for every possible price point. I would much prefer an iPhone, and think it is a better designed os, with more applications, but I refuse to pay 500 euro for an unlocked iPhone 4 when you can get a decent android phone for not much more than 100 euro.