A recent report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project released on March 1, 2012 indicates that alone in America, 46 per cent adults own smartphones. The report also indicates that even people, who are over 65, have shown tremendous desire toward the smartphones. Consultants at the Pew Internet & American Life Project and elsewhere in the world are of opinion that both iPhone and Android have lot to do with the increasing popularity of smartphones not only in America but also in the other parts of the world. Both these devices have brought a dramatic change – almost a revolution in telecommunication sector.

iPhone is manufactured and marketed by Apple Incorporation. It is one of the widely preferred phone devices not only in America but also across the world. The phone is enabled with advanced multimedia and Internet tools. On the other hand, Android is a Linux-based operating system, which has emerged as one the favorite operating system for smartphone and a number of big mobile manufactures such as Samsung, LG, HTC have chosen this platform to develop their mobile applications. Apple does not use Android as it is an open source technology and hence, it has direct competition with the mobile brand using Android, which is developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google, as base platform for developing their smartphones. This is how; iPhone and Android grew up as competitors to each other.

Since inception, both the technologies have been strong competitors to each other. If we talk about the recent data, in the month of October and November 2011, the sale of iPhone and Android-based phone was almost equal. iPhone constantly with newer products and applications could able to beat Android based phones. Before the third quarter the equations were different. Android based phones were 60 per cent in number in the market while iPhone was just 26 per cent. The data was not very much different in other parts of the world.

According to a report released online by BusinessInsider.com revealed that iPhone 4S made a big difference in boosting the popularity of iPhone series in the world. iPhone 4S gave a change to Apple to reach as much as 43 per cent customers in USA, which was not very much less when compared to 47 per cent of Android customers. So, iPhone, due to iPhone 4S and a favorable environment created due to the untimely death of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, gained tremendous popularity by the end of 2011 but remained marginally shy against Android. Android was the first choice of customers for smartphones followed by iPhone and BlackBerry.

Experts suggested that iPhone worked on its technology and hardware to a great extent. The quality of camera, availability of third-party software, faster processors were some of the attributes that helped Apple, specifically iPhone to surge ahead in the competition. It Q4, it emerged as the top selling brand in the world.

The NPD Group, a leading market research company also disclosed that due to complex user experience, Android was criticized by its customers. However, as the company said, “Android’s support of LTE at Verizon has also made it the exclusive choice for customers who want to take advantage of that carrier’s fastest network.”

So, although iPhone dramatically climbed in the market share graph with the increased sale of its product iPhone 4S, Android held 48 per cent of the market shares. The current scenario reveals that whosoever wants to take the bigger share in the market, need to come up with newest and easy technology. Android based smartphone, especially Samsung GALAXY S II and Samsung GALAXY S 4G, which were at fourth and fifth positions in Q4 (in terms of sales) are gaining tremendous popularity due to their advanced applications in European and Asian market.