Duke it Out: New Poll Shows that Android May Be Coming Up

It seems as though the real tech battle of the next couple years is going to be a Goliath vs. Goliath story.  Google and Apple have always had a strained relationship.  Apple has allowed many of Google's applications to make their way to the App Store, often becoming defining iPhone apps and even challenging the built in iPhone feautres.  The battle over Google Voice had been a hard fought one where Apple used its patented form of market exclusion to fight it, but with the rabid support of consumers and the FCC Google came out victorious.  This may have seemed fine when the iPhone was the undisputed ruler of the expanding smart phone empire.  It looks as though the coup may be initiated, and it will be by a competing super power.

The Android has not been the most famous of the smart phone brethren, but is held its own.  Instead of a steady increase in the Google powered Droid models there has been a shoot upward, an increase that a new study has now shown that the number of new smart phones uers that are going after a model is shifting very dramatically in the favor of Google's baby.

ChangeWaves as performed a study that looked at the purchasing habits of smart phone consumers in the coming 90 days.  This September survey was then matched with the results of a similar survey conducted by ChangeWaves in June.  The results of ChangeWaves poll states that a solid 37 percent of those looking for a new smart phone are going after the Android, and this is a full seven point higher than in June.  The iPhone still dominates at 38 percent, but this is down from the dominant 50 percent of ChangeWaves' June study.  This shows a dramatic shift in how these products are being viewed and should be a major predictor for Apple as to what they need to do.

It really is speculation to say exactly what is driving the numbers in the ChangeWaves poll, but it is easy to look at what is different between the devices.  What stands out about the Droid is its openness, which is to say that the iPhone is famously not.  This is not going to annihilate the iPhone altogether as it is clear that its history of success, the shear size of its App Store, and the legacy of the iPod and similar functions is going to be enough to build on for several generations of phones to come.  This is not a game of which device is superior, but instead what the average phone consumer wants when they are buying expensive smart phones and signing two year contracts.