A new report by US investment bank Piper Jaffray sees mobile phones based on Google's Android software outselling Apple's iPhone by next year.And “ultimately” Android phones (made by Motorola, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, LG, HTC and others) will g
A new report by US investment bank Piper Jaffray sees mobile phones based on Google’s Android software outselling Apple’s iPhone by next year.
And “ultimately” Android phones (made by Motorola, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, LG, HTC and others) will grab 50% market share.
The report also predicts that the highest-profile Android hold-out, Nokia, will eventually “cave” and release models based on Google’s software.
The investment bank also sees potential for Nokia to have a significant partnership with Microsoft, whose major Windows Phone 7 mobile phone software upgrade is due later this year.
It’s not all bad news for Apple.
Piper Jaffray said while Apple’s smartphone market share will top out between 20% and 30%, it will grab around 50% of profit, due to its higher margin on handsets.
By contrast, Google’s takings from Android will remain relatively modest. The bank sees them at $US1.35 billion for 2012 - about a 20th of Apple's iPhone take today.
Three recent retail surveys - by Nielsen, NDP and Canalys - have found Android-based phones (which sell for as little as $US100, off contract) - outselling iPhone over the past six months in the US.
By the end of this year - looking at worldwide sales - Piper Jaffray sees iPhone still leading with 15.9% market share to Android’s 14.9%.
By the end of 2012, the investment bank sees Android on 23.2% and iPhone on 17.6%.
