Apple just can’t keep up with Android

Apple may have sold 3 million iPhone 4 units, but over 160,000 Android-powered devices are activated each day – at an approximate rate of two smartphones per second.

Indeed, John Battelle of SearchBlog estimates that Apple may have managed to initially offload 130,000 iPhone 4 smartphones a day. 

“[But] 30K MORE [Android] phones [are activated per] day than Apple. And my guess is that Android’s pace is accelerating, while the iPhone 4 is probably sliding downward, given how many folks bought it at launch.

“1.7 million were sold in first three days, so 1.3 million the next 20 days. In fact, if you do THAT math, and divide 1.3 million by 20 days, you get 65,000 iPhone 4s sold each day, which is nearly 100,000 less, PER DAY, than Android phones.”



Battelle also predicted that Android-based phones will “far outnumber” any other smartphone by the end of 2010. 



“Apple, meet your new Windows. It’s name is Android.”

Meanwhile, Phandroid’s Kevin Krause noted that a sales number of three million was undoubtedly “beyond astounding” for a single handset.

“[However], we’d also venture to say that if iOS was dropping on the same number of smartphones as Android and at the same frequency the figure would be spread out quite a bit more — just as is the case with Google’s platform,” wrote Krause.

“[So], will Android ever topple the iPhone? There will at least come a time where the two are no longer separated by as wide a gap in market share. A time when Google’s platform sits at the same level. Only true innovation and the continued release of simply killer Android phones will prove if Google has what it takes to become the top dog in the handset world.”