Android Sales Beating iPhone in 2010, Nielson Says

Look out, iPhone enthusiasts. Your phone of choice might not be top dog for much longer. According to a report released Monday by the Nielson Co., Google’s Android devices outsold Apple’s iPhone for the first half of 2010.

With 13% of the market share, Android is still behind both Apple (28% of the market share) and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry (35% of the market share). However, 27% of consumers who bought a smartphone in the beginning of 2010 chose an Android phone, compared to the 23% who bought an iPhone.

While Android and Apple’s sales soared this year, RIM, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile all experienced drops in sales. Apple did show more loyalty in its customers,89% of which want an iPhone for their next smartphone. 71% of Android users said they would stick with this operating system in their next device, which isn’t too far behind Apple.

RIM, however, had a disappointing 42% of customers who would return to the Blackberry in their next device, with 29% of their customers who want an iPhone next and 21% who’d like an Android device.

The only issue with the report is that it doesn’t include the sales from July, which obviously means these numbers don’t factor in the sales of the iPhone 4. However, they also don’t include sales of Android’s new devices, including the brand-new Droid X, and other popular phones like the Droid Incredible and the HTC Evo 4G, all of which flew off of the shelves just as fast as the iPhone 4. In addition, these numbers also don’t factor in the numerous problems that Apple has had with its new device, which could greatly affect that 89% of loyal customers who would return to the device in the future.

With the prospect of new Android phones on the horizon, including the rumor of a phone equipped with a 2 GhZ processor by the end of this year, it’ll be interesting to see how these numbers change in the coming months.