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There have been 900 million Android activations, 48 billion app installs to date
What would a Google liveblog be without some updates on Android activations? Well, in case you're curious, the newest figure is 900 million -- a big jump from the 400 million activations reported last year. What's more, Google says there have been 48 billion app installations to date, including 2.8 billion in the last month alone, with revenue per user 2.5 times what it was a year ago. To put that in context, that's not far off Apple's latest numbers: the company has logged just under 50 billion downloads of its own. Moving on to Chrome, meanwhile, Google is touting 750 million active users, and that includes not just the desktop, but phones and tablets too. That's up from 450 million users at this time last year, with 300 million switching over in the past 12 months. Finally, if you want to get really granular, Google also gave an update on its Google Cloud Messaging service, which was announced last year. Apparently, 60 percent of apps are now using GCM, and 17 billion messages are pushed through the service per day. We'll let you chew on that for a moment while you follow the liveblog, but it seems to us now would be a good time to start placing bets on when we hit the 1-billion-activations mark.%Gallery-188420%
Eric Schmidt: Google now at 1.5 million Android activations per day
There's a Google exec speaking at a tech conference, and that means one thing: more Android statistics. At Dive Into Mobile today, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed that the company is now seeing 1.5 million Android activations per day, which is up from 1.3 million per day last fall and 1.4 million as of last month (seemingly an uptick after a short period of slower growth). Schmidt also says that the company remains on track for one billion total devices by the end of the year, which would be a sizeable increase from the 750 million that CEO Larry Page confirmed in his most recent statement last month. Schmidt further notes that the key to that future growth -- or reaching the "next five billion people looking to get connected," as he puts it -- will be the $100 price point, something he suggests they'll quickly get to.
Verizon sees 3.1M LTE iPhone activations in Q4
Verizon Wireless announced its quarterly earnings for the last three months of 2012, and it was a strong quarter for iPhone sales. The carrier confirmed that it activated 6.2 million iPhones, which is double the amount that Verizon activated in Q3 2012. Half of these iPhones were the LTE-enabled iPhone 5, while the other half were older iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S models. iPhones were the dominant smartphones on Verizon, accounting for more than 60 percent of the 9.8 million smartphones Verizon activated in the quarter. Analysts are predicting a less-than-stellar earnings report from Apple, but these numbers from Verizon bode well for iPhone sales in the quarter. Apple will announce its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, January 23 and will hold a conference call starting at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. [Via GigaOM]
Flurry: Santa crammed more tablets than smartphones into Christmas stockings
Assuming you were a non-naughty-lister who didn't get the proverbial coal lump, it looks like that gift under the tree was more likely a tablet than a phone this Noël, according to Flurry. The analytics outfit said that just over half of December 25th activations were slates, and we can't imagine too many gift-getters letting their new devices simlessly fester in a box over the big day. Overall activations more than doubled from last Christmas, and were up 332 percent on that single day from the first 20 days of December, combined. As might be expected, Apple came up big with iPad sales, but Flurry said that Amazon was also a winner with its 7-inch Kindle Fire HD tab, showing a "several thousand percent" increase over baseline activations. None of this likely comes as a huge shock to our readers, who rather overwhelmingly said that they'd rather have a Nexus 7 tablet than a pricier RAZR M as a gift if they toiled at Google.
Google's Eric Schmidt: 1.3 million Android activations a day, 480 million devices worldwide
Kicking off the Motorola event in NYC, Google's Eric Schmidt has revealed some new Android figures for its captive audience of journalists and bloggers. It's now notching up some 1.3 million activations a day, which includes around 70,000 tablets ("We were late to them", notes Schmidt) every 24 hours. In total, that makes for just shy of 500 million Google-powered mobile devices around the globe -- 80 million in just over two months.
Google: 400 million Android devices, one million activations a day
Google has just kicked off its I/O keynote with some big new numbers to share. It now says there are 400 million activated Android devices out there, and one million activations per day. That's up from the 100 million activated devices it announced at Google I/O last year, and 200 million it announced last fall, while the activations per day are up from the 900k it confirmed just earlier this month. As Google was quick to point out, that translates to about 12 devices activated every second, and it's happy to note that things are "definitely not slowing down." Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Google's Andy Rubin: Android activations up to 900,000 a day, I'm staying put thank you
It's been awhile since we learned how many unique Android devices were switching on every day; the last time was at Mobile World Congress, when Google's senior mobile VP Andy Rubin confirmed 850,000 activations a day just as we were fruitlessly practicing our Catalan. He's now chiming in with word that the daily rate is up to 900,000 cellular-enabled phones and tablets as of June. That's a ways off from the breakneck pace of growth in 2011, but it certainly shows that Android is no shrinking violet just yet. Rubin's answer is ostensibly prompted by a need to debunk a rumor that he might be leaving Google -- there's "no plans" for that, he says. All the same, we're sure he doesn't mind ever-so-slightly deflating Apple's balloon before WWDC 2012 kicks off tomorrow. [Image credit: Jon Fingas, Flickr]
Flurry: China's surpassed US in iOS and Android activations, but not smartphone install base (yet)
Color us unsurprised at the notion that the world's most populous country would one day be home to the greatest number of smartphones. That hasn't happened quite yet, but we're getting close per analytics firm, Flurry, who's measured China's surpassed the United States for the first time in combined iOS and Android activations in March. That's quite a difference from the beginning of 2011, when China held the 10th spot in the firm's rankings, before admittedly rising to an impressive second place by the end of that calendar year. And as you'd expect with growth trending in China's favor, it's now only a matter of when, not if, before it snatches the smartphone install-base crown from the current king, the US of A. But before jostling amongst yourselves on exactly when that'll happen, we'd recommend hitting that source link for a chart-filled run-down. Go on, it's fun for the whole family.
China surpasses US on iOS, Android activations
When I first saw this news on MacRumors this morning, my immediate thought was "Duh! China has 4.4 times the population of the U.S." But there's more to the story of China passing the U.S. in iOS and Android activations, since the per-capita income is almost twelve times greater for Americans than it is for the average Chinese citizen. The information from mobile analytics firm Flurry is pretty astounding, showing a steady rise in the percent of total activations over the past year from about 8 percent to the current 25 percent. The target market for iOS and Android devices is pretty much the same, so this shows the result of Apple's marketing push in China and that of Android device manufacturers such as Samsung and HTC. It's also indicative of the growth of affluence in China. Flurry also measured app session growth year-over-year in a number of countries, and found that the growth rate in China is huge: a whopping 1,126 percent over 2011. By comparison, another emerging market for smartphone devices -- Argentina -- "only" saw an app session growth rate of 599 percent. To quote the Flurry study results, "No matter how we slice it, the application market continues to grow at unprecedented rates, and increasingly across more borders. With smart devices adoption rates more than four times greater than those witnessed during the 1980s PC revolution and twice as fast as those during1990s Internet Boom, no other consumer technology has been more accessible than smart device application software. It's literally taking over the world."
Apple's Tim Cook says 'pipeline is full of stuff,' AT&T affirms record sales of new iPad
Apple's 'cash balance' conference call this morning was mostly uninteresting for folks not immediately involved with Wall Street (the actual thing and the Shia LaBeouf masterpiece, as it turns out), but CEO Tim Cook did let loose a few nuggets of interestingness for those hoping for insight into the future. For one, he stated that Apple's pipeline is "full of stuff," further impressing upon the masses the message he planted at the tail-end of the new iPad keynote on March 7th. He also stated: "I think our customers will be incredibly pleased with what they see coming out." Hardly a surprise, but Apple rarely hands out confirmation of boom times unless it truly has something significant in the labs.He also confirmed that Apple had "a record opening weekend" in regard to the new iPad launch, but stopped short of handing out actual figures. In fact, we could be talking about a record low -- we jest, we jest. At any rate, AT&T has stepped in to announce that on Friday, March 16th, the carrier "set a new single-day record for its iPad sales and activations." Again, no hard figures, but something tells us the number crunchers (and auditors) are hard at work to bring us precisely that. Ma Bell's laughably brief press release can be found in its entirety after the break -- all 45 cliffhanging words of it.
63% of last quarter's iPhone activations were outside the U.S.
Horace Dediu, analyst and financial blogger at Asymco, provided several fascinating charts at the end of last week that not only show how dramatically iPhone activations have increased over time, but also how the U.S. market makes up a shrinking portion of that overall market. As Apple 2.0 editor Philip Elmer-Dewitt noted in an analysis of Dediu's numbers, "The U.S. is becoming a progressively less important market for sales of Apple's most valuable product line." While the chart above shows that the percent of iPhone sales outside of the U.S. actually fell during the last quarter, this trend should reverse in the near future. It's expected that Apple will report another sharp increase in international sales after this quarter is complete, since there has been unprecedented demand for the iPhone 4S since it went on sale in China last month. The emphasis on the international sales numbers doesn't mean that the U.S. market is by any means saturated with iPhones. In fact, the chart below shows just how much iPhone activations rose during the last quarter of 2011 in the U.S. alone. The increase in the worldwide activation numbers is just as staggering.
Verizon to stop allowing legacy Alltel devices to be activated on its network, starting today
It's been three years and two days since Verizon officially closed its acquisition of Alltel, and it looks like Big Red's finally putting the sledgehammer down on activating legacy devices from the purchased network. We just received official word from a Verizon spokesperson that effective today, the carrier will no longer allow you to bring over an Alltel device to a retail outlet and get it activated on their network. If you're currently using an Alltel-branded phone on Verizon, don't panic: this new policy change only applies to handsets that haven't already been activated. We can't imagine this will affect too many users at this point, but we imagine Chad's still feeling a little bummed out today regardless. Continue on below for Verizon's statement.
Android and iOS share a merry little Christmas: seven million total device activations
Google's SVP of Mobile just provided us with another glimpse inside the horse's mouth, claiming that Android scored 3.7 million new device activations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To put that in context, Flurry reported that total Android and iOS activations on Christmas Day alone totaled 6.8 million. If we can accept a very high margin of error, and if we assume that the vast majority of Rubin's activations were on the 25th, then we might extrapolate a roughly even split between the two rival platforms. Considering where Android was just a couple of Christmas's ago, it's no wonder that Mr Rubin is in the tweeting mood.
Reports suggest Apple retail had a great Christmas
We've already heard that the iPhone and iOS had a record day this Christmas weekend, and here's even more stats proving that's the case. First up, the latest data from Flurry Analytics points out that both iOS and Android saw not only record activations over the holiday weekend, with as many as 6.8 million new devices connecting up to their respective app stores for the first time. And of course with new devices comes new app downloads: Flurry says there were around 242 million app downloads on Christmas Day alone, a rise of more than 125% compared to the previous month's average (which itself has been high, I believe, ever since Thanksgiving). GigaOm also cites some other usage figures, including the fact that over 7% of new purchases made on a mobile device this past Sunday were on an iPad. That means people wasted no time at all in breaking open their new Apple tablets and using them to buy more stuff. All in all, it sounds like quite the phenomenal weekend for Apple, and all of the various developers and services that rely on the App Store for their livelihoods. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of these kinds of statistics. Stay tuned for more in the coming days and weeks to hear just how great a Christmas it was for the iOS ecosystem.
Study finds many iOS activations during the holidays
We all expected that iOS sales would be incredible during the holiday season, but now a study by Localytics reported on GigaOM shows that the activation level for new iOS devices was even greater than expected. The study showed that 12.5 times more iOS devices accessed games and apps using Localytics' platform during the holiday weekend than over previous weekends. That's the worldwide average -- in the US and Germany, the average was 15 to 16 times greater than the average new device activations. For the competing Android platform, the gains were in the 11 to 12 times greater range. Other fascinating numbers from the Localytics study include the fact that in the US, activations of iPod touch devices were 21 times greater than usual, while iPhones were activated at 14 times the standard rate. Apple ruled the roost in terms of activation gains in the US, UK, and Germany, while Android won the contest in other European countries and in Asia.
Google: 200 million Android devices activated, over 550,000 activated everyday
Here at the "These Go To Eleven" event, Google announced that Android activations thus far have surpassed 200 million devices. That's over 550,000 activations per day, which is 50,000 more than June's figure, and 150,000 more than the 400,000 clocked in during May. Not quite as many as Cupertino's 250 million strong, but Mountain View's getting close.
Sprint says the iPhone 4S, 4 add up to its best 'device family' launch ever (Update: AT&T too)
After ignoring and teasing the iPhone, Sprint has its own Apple handsets to sell and apparently its customers have responded to the iPhone 4 and 4S. A press release just went out calling this Sprint's "best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family" -- hopefully they double checked the numbers this time -- in the company's history, as of 1PM ET. Predictably, Sprint's unlimited data pricing compared to other carriers is being credited for the (unspecified) new high water mark in sales. Check the release itself after the break for the rest of the victory lap, but we'll wait for actual numbers before deciding on the big winner of today's launch. Update: AT&T just couldn't let Sprint hog the moment, sending out its own missive claiming the company "activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day". It's included after the break, and of course we'll let you know when / if Verizon fires a few shots off in celebration.
US Cellular Q2 results bring higher revenue, despite small customer loss
With the upcoming introduction of its LTE network and vast fall smartphone lineup, US Cellular's a regional carrier with a lot to look forward to. But its efforts over the second quarter, paired with the hopes of a bright future ahead, weren't enough to keep a few thousand customers from parting ways. While most of the reported figures were quite pleasant year-over-year -- service revenues bumped up three percent to $1 billion, percentage of smartphones sold skyrocketed to nearly 40 percent, ARPU increased to $51.84, and total operating income shot up a whole 61 percent -- the company also experienced a loss of 58,000 customers over the course of three months. The carrier doesn't seem too worried about this particular figure, however, as it stated its excitement about the launch of its 4G service later this year. Will the bleak and cold winter become warm and toasty because of a blazing-hot network? We're eager to find out. Hit the source link for the full quarterly earnings.
Verizon Wireless activates 2.3 M iPhones, still trails AT&T
Verizon Wireless released its quarterly earnings this morning and confirmed that it activated 2.3 million iPhones 4 in Q2 2011. This number is impressive, but it's not as high as rival AT&T which activated 3.6 M iPhones in the same quarter. Together the two carriers sold almost 6 million iPhones which accounts for about 30% of Apple's 20 M iPhones shipped last quarter. The iPhone 4 may be a solid handset for Verizon, but it's not the AT&T killer everyone predicted earlier this year. AT&T is holding its own against Verizon and maintaining its lead as the top iPhone carrier in the US. Now that Verizon dropped its unlimited data plan, the two carriers are on equal footing with their available smartphone data plans. This should make next quarter's earnings that much more interesting, especially if the iPhone 5 debuts on both carriers at the same time as expected.
Andy Rubin: over 500,000 Android activations a day, and growing
You may have noticed that Steve Jobs isn't nitpicking anymore over how Google measures the number of Android activations. It probably has something to do with the fact that, no matter how you slice it, at this point Android's growth is outpacing that of the iOS. In fact, according to Andy Rubin, 500,000 new Android devices are activated every day, and that number is continuing to grow. Heck, as of December that number was only 300,000 -- that's a 60-percent increase in just over seven months. At this rate there will be more Android phones than people in just a few short years. There might not be enough food and potable water to sustain the Earth's ever growing population, but at least everyone will be able to tweet about it. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
