Nearly 65,000 Android-powered mobile phones are being shipped every day, according to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. To boot, the open-source mobile operating system is now being used on 34
mobile devices in 49 countries, Schmidt said at Google's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. "It looks like Android is going to be either the number one or number two player" in the mobile phone
market, he said, according to
Agence France Presse. Google now makes its Android software available to
various handset manufacturers and sells its own Android-powered smartphone, the Nexus One. Sales of more than two million Android handsets a month would approach those of Google rival Apple, which
reported sales of 8.75 million iPhones last quarter, according to AFP. According to industry research firm NPD, US sales of smartphones running Android actually surged past those of Apple in the first
quarter of the year. Meanwhile, Android-powered smartphones accounted for 28% of US consumer sales compared with 21% for the iPhone, NPD said.