Bored of making small talk with the in-laws? Sick of the sight of Christmas dinner leftovers? Then join me as I play the ‘How many iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day’ game.
Apple doesn’t release official data, of course. It wouldn’t be much of a game if it did. So I’m going to rely on third party data and anecdotes from reputable sources.
One good source of data is Flurry, an analytics company whose software is used by enough app developers to give us a decent shot at statistical significance. Flurry announced yesterday that 6.8m Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day. That compares to an average of 1.5m over the first 20 days in December. Flurry doesn’t say how many of these were iOS devices, however, so we need to look elsewhere.
Help is at hand in the form of Google’s senior vice president for Android, Andy Rubin, who tweeted recently that 3.7m Android devices were activated on 24 and 25 December. Rubin also tweeted a couple of weeks ago that Android is averaging around 700,000 activations per day. If we assume that Christmas Eve was in line with that average, then according to Rubin, 3m Android devices were activated on Christmas Day. That would mean, using Flurry’s figures, that 3.8m iOS devices were activated that day.
We know that in the smartphone market, at the end of the July – September quarter, Android had a 53% share and the iPhone, 15%. Since then, however, the iPhone 4S has launched and sold exceptionally well. It’s likely that when the October – December figures are released, they’ll show a narrowing of that gap. We also know that in the tablet market, the iPad has around 75%, while Android has about 15%. Given that the smartphone market is, according to some figures, around four times the size of the tablet market, you might expect Android’s share of that 6.8m activations figure to be higher. But the iPod touch remains a big seller for Apple, significantly bigger than the iPad by some accounts, and that will narrow the gap.
There are lots of other factors which could account for the higher than expected showing for iOS. One could be that those given Apple products as gifts are more likely activate them straight away (I’ve no idea if that’s the case or not). Another could be that iPads and iPod touches are more popular as gifts than smartphones, whether they are Android or iOS. That would push up the iOS figure too.
As I said, it’s a game. Don’t draw too much from it – or from all the reports you’ll see online over the next few days of how many Android and iOS devices have been activated over the Christmas period.
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How many iOS devices really were activated on Christmas Day?
by Kenny Hemphill on December 28, 2011
Bored of making small talk with the in-laws? Sick of the sight of Christmas dinner leftovers? Then join me as I play the ‘How many iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day’ game.
Apple doesn’t release official data, of course. It wouldn’t be much of a game if it did. So I’m going to rely on third party data and anecdotes from reputable sources.
One good source of data is Flurry, an analytics company whose software is used by enough app developers to give us a decent shot at statistical significance. Flurry announced yesterday that 6.8m Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day. That compares to an average of 1.5m over the first 20 days in December. Flurry doesn’t say how many of these were iOS devices, however, so we need to look elsewhere.
Help is at hand in the form of Google’s senior vice president for Android, Andy Rubin, who tweeted recently that 3.7m Android devices were activated on 24 and 25 December. Rubin also tweeted a couple of weeks ago that Android is averaging around 700,000 activations per day. If we assume that Christmas Eve was in line with that average, then according to Rubin, 3m Android devices were activated on Christmas Day. That would mean, using Flurry’s figures, that 3.8m iOS devices were activated that day.
We know that in the smartphone market, at the end of the July – September quarter, Android had a 53% share and the iPhone, 15%. Since then, however, the iPhone 4S has launched and sold exceptionally well. It’s likely that when the October – December figures are released, they’ll show a narrowing of that gap. We also know that in the tablet market, the iPad has around 75%, while Android has about 15%. Given that the smartphone market is, according to some figures, around four times the size of the tablet market, you might expect Android’s share of that 6.8m activations figure to be higher. But the iPod touch remains a big seller for Apple, significantly bigger than the iPad by some accounts, and that will narrow the gap.
There are lots of other factors which could account for the higher than expected showing for iOS. One could be that those given Apple products as gifts are more likely activate them straight away (I’ve no idea if that’s the case or not). Another could be that iPads and iPod touches are more popular as gifts than smartphones, whether they are Android or iOS. That would push up the iOS figure too.
As I said, it’s a game. Don’t draw too much from it – or from all the reports you’ll see online over the next few days of how many Android and iOS devices have been activated over the Christmas period.