Some recents stats (article 1, 2, and 3) showing the growth of smartphones. Not surprisingly, Android has increased its overall share to 52.5% of the worldwide market share in Q3.

In the US, Apple is still doing well and saw its overall sales increase to 17.3 million units and remains the most popular smartphone; however, its worldwide market share has reduced down to 15% (from 16.6%).

Now we suspect that Q4 numbers might show improved numbers for Apple with the release of the iPhone 4S; however, Android will remain king.

RIM continued its decline and that was in Q3 which was before their recent network debacle which will likely hurt their Q4 and 2012 Q1 sales even more.

The most surprising figures are that Windows Phone market share dropped to a lowly 1.5 percent.

What do all these figures mean? Well, your investment in your iOS apps and Android apps are still well secured and not likely to be obsolete soon. That being said, the Android numbers are likely a sign that perhaps launching on iOS first maybe a thing of the past and that Android should be the focus from now on if you want to reach more users with your app. Do keep in mind that the same reasons that may make Android more popular, more choices, flexibility, and cheaper prices, may not translate into more app sales as people buying a $100 smartphone may shy away from buying apps compared to someone buying a $700 iPhone. That being said, if you are launching a service and want to capture more end users, Android should be the platform of choice.

Finally do note that those numbers are for worldwide and The United States and may not completely transfer to Canada. We will keep an eye for information related to Canadian sales and will post when we have them.

We are looking for an Android developer for a short contract with the potential to extend into a full time position at the end of the contract. Ideally you have developed quite a few Android apps in the past and can hit the ground running from the start; however, it is not a must. If you have built one or two apps for your own knowledge and now have a desire to put that knowledge to work, that would do as well. Please contact sylvain at 14oranges dot com if you are interested or for more information.

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