Around 1.3 million Android devices are being activated on a daily basis.
Yes, the mobile operating system that started out as a dream with big hopes is now the world’s most popular smartphone platform.
“Today is a big day for Android… 500 million devices activated globally, and over 1.3 million added every single day,” wrote Android product management director Hugo Bara in a Google+ post.
Of course, Google couldn’t have done it without the many manufacturers that have also come to treat Android as their own.
Samsung is the most notable. It owns an astounding 30.6% of the mobile phone market as of last month. It toppled Nokia as the leader in the industry for the first time in 15 years.
And with more than 50% of American consumers now owning smartphones, and with Android as the most popular smartphone platform by far, owning that industry is a huge deal.
The conventional strategy for cell phones has always been to secure a deal with one carrier in regions like the US, because when you do that, the carrier will give you favorable terms.
But that seems to be less of a worry now when customers care about the phone more than the carrier these days. It will be interesting to see if this carrier-agnostic phenomenon continues.
