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Android?s leap over Apple covers up an opportunity for marketers


Sales of Samsung?s Galaxy S6 smartphone propelled Android back to the top of the United States smartphone market in the latest quarter, according to a report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Meanwhile, a Gartner report showed overall smartphone growth flattening, even as sales of Apple phones, especially in China, kept overall phone spending consistent while the PC and tablet markets continued to weaken. 

?As mobile continues its explosive growth there is room, and in fact a necessity, that this happens across devices and price points,? said Mike Parker, president for west region with iCrossing. ?Apple has a good lock on the higher end market, but Android is the mass market OS and the devices continue to impress.  

?Today, when we are building marketing programs for brands, we have to consider the multiple OS environment so there is really no impact from the growth in Android,? he said. ?This growth is particularly noticeable in merging and new markets, which is opening new opportunities for global brands to connect with new consumers who might not otherwise have desktop Internet access. 

?Ultimately, we think the maturing landscape and significant landscape is exciting and further sign of the important opportunity for marketers," he said. 

Declining iOS
The Galaxy S6 is now the third best-selling U.S. smartphone after the iPhone and the Galaxy S5, according to Kantar. Its surge came as iOS declined slightly during the May-ended quarter. 

Duracell campaign stickers on iPhone.

During the quarter, Android?s operating system continued to reclaim U.S. market share, increasing 2.8 percentage points to 64.9 percent. However, Android showed little improvement in the key European markets of Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, where it dropped 2.9 percentage points.

Gartner?s smartphone outlook was included with a forecast for worldwide information technology spending to total $3.5 trillion in 2015, down 5.5 percent from 2014. Excluding foreign-exchange impacts, the market is projected to grow 2.5 percent ? below Gartner's April forecast for constant-currency growth of 3.1 percent.

The weaker outlook did not point to a market crash, John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner, said in a release. 

Vendors do have to raise prices to protect costs and margins of their products, and enterprises and consumers will have to make new purchase decisions in light of the new prices, he was quoted as saying.

Communications services will continue to be the largest IT spending segment in 2015 with spending at nearly $1.5 trillion, according to Gartner.

In the device market, mobile phones continue to be the leading segment, with growth in Apple phones, especially in China, keeping overall phone spending consistent. 

However, overall smartphone unit growth will start to flatten while PC and tablet sales continue to weaken. 

Tablet sales are cooling faster than expected as cost-conscious consumers hang on to them longer and put money into lower-priced smartphones, laptops and wearables.

Luxury items
The contrasting results underscore a perception that smartphones are must-have items while tablets are luxury items, especially as phone screens get larger.

Google Maps on Android.

?It has been a battle of the white-picket fence iOS against the ?open? android leviathan,? said Gary Schwartz, CEO of Impact Mobile, Toronto. ?Ultimately, open business models will always drive attrition over closed systems no matter how aspirational the device.?  

?Of course, from a consumer perspective, both Android and iOS are very much a closed ecosystem,? Mr. Schwartz said. ?Apple's business model rides on device sales and under the Samsung, LG and Sony skins, Google?s business model rides on big data and predictive analytics for its ad network.  

?For the consumer, open is a four-letter word.  It is a winner-take-all data battle.?

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York