Android activations approach one million per day

Android, Google's mobile operating system, has almost doubled in popularity in the past year, with daily activations running at more than 900,000 compared with 500,000 at the same time in 2011, according to Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android and now senior vice president of mobile at Google.

However, the rate of growth has slowed over the past six months and it may take until Christmas before the one million daily activations mark is reached.

Rubin's claim is backed up by figures from analysts IDC, which indicated that shipments of Android-based smartphones had increased by 145 per cent, year-on-year, in the first quarter.

Some 390 million Android devices in total have been bought and activated since it first debuted in 2007 under the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software and telecoms companies that sought to push open standards for mobile devices.

IDC forecasts that Android will enjoy a 61 per cent market share of the smartphone operating system market this year, calculated by units sold.

However, that commanding market share lead will slip over the next four years, according to IDC, as Windows Phone takes a modest slice of the market – coming in at number three, well behind iOS.

And while Apple retains a big market share lead in the tablet computing market, new Android-based products from HP, LG and Dell based on the latest version, Android 4.0, will be released in the autumn, bringing new competition for Apple from a trio of big players.