More signs iPhone under Android attack
Not a good day for iPhone as another two research groups say Android sales are white hot.
Add Nielsen to the growing list of research groups that say sales of Android phones are outpacing the iPhone's.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, research firm Nielsen has found that among those who bought a smartphone in the first half of the year, 27 percent acquired an Android phone while 23 percent bought an iPhone. Research in Motion and its BlackBerry phones beat both of them with 35 percent, the LA Times reported.
Nielsen's study appears to support similar findings from the NPD Group, which reported in May that Android had surpassed the iPhone in sales during the first quarter. There are plenty of qualifiers in Nielsen's study.
First, the numbers don't reflect July sales, the first full month that the iPhone was available for purchase. Also, the Android operating system is featured on numerous phones, including Motorola's Droid X and the Sprint Evo. This means the iPhone is not being compared to an individual phone but a whole crop of them.
But while some might argue that Apple is holding it's own against other individual phone makers, Nielsen's findings are just the another heap of positive news for Google, one of Apple's leading rivals.
Market researcher Canalys said on Monday that worldwide shipments of Android smartphones during the second quarter are up 886 percent from a year ago.
"In the United States, for example, we have seen the largest carrier, Verizon Wireless, heavily promoting high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid by Motorola and the Droid Incredible by HTC," Canalys principal analyst Chris Jones said in a statement.
However, also on Monday, Netmarketshare reported Apple's iOS mobile operating system experienced its largest single month market share gain ever in July.