Palm webOS breaks into mobile OS rankings; Pre top-tier in smartphones

Friday, 02 October 2009 Andrew Young

According to a report released this week by AdMob, Palm webOS and the Pre are making their mark in worldwide rankings. As of August, Palm webOS inched past Windows Mobile and is coming up behind Android with 4 percent of the worldwide mobile OS market (according to network activity), despite its first apperance in the rankings. Meanwhile, Symbian, RIM, Windows, and Palm OS usage is declining, giving Palm's new platform an opportunity to grow at an accelerated rate, especially with the webOS Pixi still on the way and the Pre coming to Europe later this month. More after the break.

Palm is also doing well on other fronts; the Pre has risen to the top-tier of worldwide smartphones, rising to #4 (#3 in North America). Palm's latest handset surpasses even the most popular of RIM's smartphones, the BlackBerry 8300, but still trails the iPhone and HTC Dream. The success of the Pre is bolstered by recent price drops and top spots on Amazon and Best Buy's bestseller lists.

In related news, a survey by CFI Group of 1074 smartphone users scored webOS and Android second in customer satisfaction, behind the iPhone. On a 100-point satisfaction scale, webOS and Android scored 77, while the iPhone scored 83. The main thing keeping Palm's number down is the lack of apps, although upcoming paid apps are expected to help in that department. "If Palm can shore up the Pre's applications availability, it will be even more competitive," CFI notes.

CNET

1 Comment

Feed

Matthew makes this comment

Friday, 02 October 2009

Isn't this a skewed comparison as Admob is a company providing ads embedded into mobile applications? What I am referring to is that "World Wide Market Share" is only going to account for the operating systems running apps that their ad engine runs on. It may not even account for multiple apps running on the same phone which means that (namely the iPhone which several times more apps rely on this service) that market share can not properly be determined by their findings. Many apologies if this suggestion invalidates the article's findings.

Add Comment