By Prarthito Maity | Dec 15, 2012 01:24 PM EST
Apple and Google have been the two most dominant sides in the smartphone market with iOS and Android, respectively. However, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt believes that the ongoing “war” is just about to get over with Android wearing the winner’s crown.
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Schmidt, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, stated that Android's continuing market-share battle with Apple's iOS "is of the scale of 20 years ago -- Microsoft versus Apple." He also added that in his opinion "we're winning that war pretty clearly now."
The claims made by Schmidt may not be so wrong after all as research firm IDC reported last month that Android shipments, during the third quarter, accounted for 75 percent of the worldwide market. In comparison, Apple's iOS came in second with 14.9 percent share. However, during the same period in 2011, while Android's share stood at 57.5 percent ownership, the Apple-based iOS could only manage a mere 13.8 percent share.
"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," IDC Mobile Phones Research Manager Ramon Llamas said in a statement at that time. "In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher."
However, Schmidt’s remarks, per the Bloomberg interview “reflect Google’s growing confidence in its ability to attract users and advertisers as more customers rely on handheld devices and shun traditional computers. By giving away Android, Google cedes revenue to hardware partners, such as Samsung Electronics Co. Schmidt is willing to make that sacrifice because it drives demand for ads and other Internet- based services that benefit Google over time.”
Schmidt’s comparison to Windows versus OS X may also be justified as, in the past, while Windows managed to dictate the operating system market with the help of several vendors who were bundling the software in their products, Apple, at the same time, kept OS X for itself and behind doors. The only time Apple used the software was for its own products.
“The core strategy is to make a bigger pie,” Schmidt added. “We will end up with a not perfectly controlled and not perfectly managed bigger pie by virtue of open systems.”
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