COMMENTARY | Early last year, Android overtook iOS as the most popular mobile platform in the United States, according to Mashable's Stan Schroeder. But the latest reports suggest that while Android is winning the market share war, it's Apple who's leaps and bounds ahead of the competition when it comes to making money: About two-thirds of all the profit in the market goes to Apple.
With that in mind, which Android device manufacturers had the best year ... and created the most popular devices?
The Winners
Out of all the companies that launched their own Android-based iPad competitors, only two managed to gain any traction: Barnes and Noble with its Nook Color and Nook Tablet, and Amazon.com with its Kindle Fire. Both sold millions of tablets, although Amazon played coy with its actual sales figures.
Meanwhile, Samsung is increasingly defining the Android world, with its smartphones and tablets that closely mimic Apple's designs. Its Galaxy Tab was temporarily banned in some countries thanks to an Apple lawsuit, but its Galaxy Nexus -- the first smartphone to run Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" -- had male Android enthusiasts lining up down the street for it. It was the second Nexus smartphone in a row made by Samsung; the previous one, the Nexus S, was released right at the start of 2011, and was the first phone to use Google Wallet for NFC payments.
According to Enders Analysis, as of the third quarter of 2011 Samsung was shipping more smartphones than any other major vendor. Motorola could possibly be considered a winner as well, if only because of the impending Google acquisition.
The Losers
HTC's profits and shipments were both up in the third quarter. But the Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker has lagged behind in the fourth quarter, posting its first profit decline in two years according to Bloomberg's Tim Culpan. Its purchase of Beats Audio has so far failed to reverse its decline, and its first Beats-equipped smartphone -- the Rezound -- largely failed to make a splash against the likes of the Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S.
Likewise, pretty much all vendors that made "Android tablets" (instead of Kindles or Nooks) failed to make a dent in either the iPad's market share or profit share. None have yet dropped to the $99 fire sale levels of the WebOS-powered HP TouchPad, but many have seen massive price drops.
Barnes and Noble has also stumbled, despite the success of its color Nook tablets. A report by Phil Wahba of Reuters cites " disappointing numbers for its $99 Nook Simple Touch e-reader," as well as aggressive competition with Amazon.com, which is able to undercut Barnes and Noble's prices and sell the Kindle Fire below cost.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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