Is Google’s popular mobile Android OS capable of withstanding a Verizon-sponsored iPhone onslaught?
Well, Gene Munster analyst Piper Jaffray believes that Android’s meteoric growth in US “will be put to the test” when Apple’s iPhone lands on Verizon’s network in early 2011.
According to Munster, Apple has thus far made two “key” mistakes with the iPhone: failing to subsidize the originally model (which was subsequently rectified), and limiting the handset exclusively to AT&T in the US.
However, Munster said that Apple is likely to begin selling the iPhone via Verizon during the first half of 2011, as the US remains the only country out of 89 where such a (limiting) exclusivity agreement is enforced.
“Currently, Android phones outsell iPhones in the US, but we believe when Verizon gets the iPhone that trend could be reversed. As an example, in countries where the iPhone is available on multiple carriers and competes with Android, we see the iPhone outselling Android,” Munster explained in an industry note obtained by AppleInsider.
“The greatest factor in the success of Android has been Verizon. Customers are loyal to their carrier, and once Verizon gets the iPhone, we believe Android’s success in the US will [no doubt] be tested.”
