Apple does compete with Android in other countries as well. Both have (gigantic) global footprints. Only because the sales were limited to AT&T previously did not mean that other countries around the world weren’t sporting the iProducts. Android has overtaken not only the US marketshare of smartphones, but the global marketshare – as you’ll see if you search for other localized geographic surveys.

Android phones didn’t just make a dent. They clambered over the sales and planted their flag claiming the market for themselves.

However, I don’t see the iPads being overthrown anytime soon. Not only did they have a headstart, they also appeal to the masses (yes, including me! :o ) for some reason. Given at least another year, it’s quite probable Android tablet sales will loom over any other.

the dent was taken out of feature phones (cannibalized) consider that iPhone has only been on Verizon for a couple months. iOS has had a steady increase since it’s debut.

The real metric is how many android phones are sold at ATT.

Android just doesn’t have anything to compete with Apple right now. Xoom? Overpriced. Transformer? Good deal compared to the similarly spec’d Xoom, but still based on Tegra 2 (which blows). In fact, pretty much all the current Android tablets are Tegra 2 based, which means they all suck.

Walk into Best Buy and you’ll see a whole section dedicated to iStuff. You can choose from countless cases, docks and accessories all made for your iPad. Go to the “other” tablet section and see tablet after tablet all running Android and all having pretty much the same specs. What consumer in their right mind is going to buy a tablet from a company they’ve never heard of (ASUS, for example)? And who’s going to buy 1 out of 10 similar tablets hoping the one they pick is still going to be around in 6 months when you want to get it fixed or get upates/accessories?

These issues don’t exist for buyers of the iPad, which is why it will dominate the tablet market for some time to come.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I bought 3 Xooms and realized after a month that I missed my iPad. Quite frankly, I’m very comfortable with tech but not a tech geek. I was very disappointed with several things:

1. The silly microscopic volume buttons that you can barely press.
2. The very buggy apps that force you to close constantly.
3. The slow/no third party software and accessories support.
4. An interface that is not intuitive/ user friendly.
And the list goes on………

It’s a cool device but you have to be a patient person, which I am not.

http://bit.ly/ei3HwC

And … sorry, I am so boned up on this, but as long as Apple doesn’t charge $80 for essential tools, and charges $499 for base models and $350 or so for out-dated models, both of which are sturdy and fast, they will remain in the lead.

This isn’t rocket science.

The Transformer should change this game, in theory. But once there are Android tablets of similar 3D capability and price of an iPad, of course iPad market share will drop. If people are just using tablets for quick email and web usage, with some movie usage to boot- it won’t be long until they realize that iOS and Android are equally suitable.