Apple iOS Versus Google Android: Numbers to Know for Event Marketers

As you look at the recent numbers from Apple’s Q3 2011 earnings call on Tuesday and Google’s Q2 2011 earnings call last week, it is hard not to be amazed by how fast these mobile platforms are scaling, and how much things have changed in a short time.

These platforms certainly have significant differences. For example, Android allows flash, iOS does not. There are several hundred different Android devices, whereas Apple offers a relatively small amount of different devices. However, there are also many similarities in their value propositions, especially their robust feature sets, which are helping to drive adoption of advanced mobile devices.

I have an iPhone and an Android, and though they are quite different, I use both for many of the same tasks. That is a key point: Understand how your audiences use these devices as that is much more important than platform variances.

In this week’s post, I look at some of the key numbers that are worthwhile to note whether you are developing show marketing initiatives specifically for these platforms or mobile in general.

Apple iOS

• 222 million cumulative iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) have been sold, up from 120 million last September.

• 25 million iPads have been sold in 14 months.

• 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store in its history, up from 6.5 billion last September.

• 425,000 apps are currently available in the App Store, up from 250,000 last September.

• 100,000 apps are made specifically for the iPad, up from 25,000 last September.

(All of the September comparison data is from Apple’s Special Event in September 2010. iPad unit sales figure from Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June 2011, not its earnings call.)

Google Android

• 135 million total Android devices have been activated, up from 100 million two months ago.

• 550,000 Android smartphones are being activated per day. During April’s Q1 earnings call, Google said that it was activating 350,000 Android smartphones per day.

• Over 6 billion apps downloaded to date, double the number from a few months ago.

• 250,000 different apps are available in the Android Market.

• There are over 400 different Android devices available globally.

Posted on July 21, 2011