Submission + - Andriod helps Verizon gain on AT&T (nytimes.com)
andy1307 writes: According to this article in the New York Times, Google's Andriod OS has helped Verizon make significant gains in the smartphone race with AT&T. Despite the pull of the iPhone, Verizon has managed to steadily increase its share of the smartphone market, to 26 percent in May, from 20 percent in late 2008. In the same period, AT&T’s market share slipped to 40 percent, from around 45 percent(Those numbers do not take into account the impact of the popular iPhone 4, released last month). In big cities, AT&T’s network has buckled under the data-heavy demands of the iPhone, frustrating customers. Verizon has managed to avoid similar problems while working with Google, Apple’s latest nemesis, to offer several strong rivals to the iPhone that use the Android operating system from Google. When the phone proved to be a hit, Verizon appeared to be left out of the race for versatile phones running programs from third-party developers. Verizon was also not particularly friendly with Google, whose participation in an auction of precious wireless spectrum angered Verizon executives. Verizon has since collaborated closely with Google to develop six phones running Android, helping to give Google’s mobile operating system 13 percent of the smartphone market in the United States. In contrast, Apple has a 24 percent share.
