Is this the beginning of the end ? Well, if you’re into scaremongering perhaps it is, but we’re more inclined to believe that the iPhone and rumours of a new model are slowing down the gains made by Android in recent months. Data from from IDC shows a dip in US market share and analyst Charlie Wolf from Needham & Company is quick to call this “the beginning of the end” of the continual gains made by the OS.
In a note to investors Tuesday, Wolf points out Apple’s iOS within the US mobile market gained 12.3 percentage points to 29.5 percent during the first quarter. Conversely, the analyst sees Android dropping from 52.4 to 49.5 percent, the first sequential loss for Android ever in any region of the world.
Wolf believes consumers will flock to the iPhone when Apple coordinates the launch on both the GSM and CDMA networks in the fall. The analyst speculates the iPhone might also launch on Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile networks (pending approval of AT&T’s (NYSE: T) proposed T-Mobile acquisition, we assume).
Links – StreetInsider.com (via Needham & Company and The Telegraph
The cynic in me is sure that Wolf was paid well by Apple for his comments 🙂  Taking a single dip in figures as a mark that it’s the beginning of the end is just tabloid-style commentary.
I presume that in reality the ipad2 is doing very well indeed and accounts for the sharp increase in iOS usage, i’ve certainly seen a lot of them on the tube lately in london and know three or four people who have picked them up.
Google needs to put some effort in to the tablet app space as really that’s the only weak spot for Android in the tablet space, but regardless of any other advantages, it’s the one area that most people will focus on when they’re selecting their tablet.  It’ll come though, I have no doubt 🙂
Personally i’ll be getting an Android tablet as and when the time is appropriate for me, as a developer who doesn’t own a mac I appreciate the freedom of choice (etc etc) that Android offers!
Welcome back Leigh
As users start to realize chances are their android devices will remain with their current OS long after new updates come out… well… they look elsewhere 😉
I’m guessing the Verizon iPhone also has something to do with it. That and the failure of Android tablets to really take off yet.
Android hasn’t moved forward since Eclair back in January 2010. Froyo added Wifi Tethering and Gingerbread other bits and bobs but Eclair was a big release. Froyo and Gingerbread are not.
This has allowed Apple to catch up. I have confidence Android will be on top again come Q4 when Icecream Sandwich launches.
As others have said too, Google really need to do more with Android on Tablets. Where are all the tablet apps? So many reviews say Android 3.x is buggy too. Google fix it!