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Android's Bite Of The Apple

Consider it a conceptual victory of open over closed networks, or merely the result of Google's size, but Android phones are now outselling the iPhone, according to new data from NPD Group.

The consumer research firm reports that U.S. sales of smartphones using Google's mobile operating system surpassed Apple in the first three months of this year. As such, Android captured a 28% market share, while Apple claimed 21% of the market. (BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion still leads the market with a 36% share.)

Writes Mashable: "The news follows a report last month from AdMob that showed Android's share of the mobile OS market had actually grown past that of iPhone OS, at least in the U.S."

"Android is now on dozens of handsets on each major carrier, so it makes sense that it leapt passed the iPhone," reasons Business Insider.

Likewise, "It really should not be a surprise," Boy Genius writes. "There are multiple Android devices scurried across every major carrier in the U.S. alone, and in addition to be priced very competitively, Verizon's BOGO has no doubt moved quite a few units."

Moreover, Media Memo argues that Android's success is a result of ongoing marketing barrages by its handset carrier partners, including Verizon Wireless and Motorola. That, "and perhaps potential iPhone buyers are in a wait-and-see mode until June, when Apple is expected to unveil a next-generation handset ... But that latter theory would require an awful lot of iPhone buyers to be awful savvy about Apple's product cycle."

Still, "NPD's numbers come from self-reported online consumer surveys (corporate sales aren't included), so there's likely some variance between their results and actual sales data," notes Media Memo. "And indeed, their numbers look quite different than the most recent numbers from Comscore, which showed Google with a 10 percent share in February."

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