Android market

There are now over 700,000 Android devices activated every day.

That was the to-the-point statement posted to Andy Rubin’s Google+ page last night. No chest-beating or additional stats to explain the ever-growing pool of Android customers was necessary. 700,000. The number speaks for itself.

It was only a few months ago that Google was touting that it activates more than 550,000 devices each day. And a few months before that, the daily Android activation total was only 350,000. Since Eric Schmidt’s announcement of that numbering February, the number of new Android devices has doubled in 9 months.

We expected Google to reach 1 million daily activation's based on Rubin’s previous comments about week-over-week growth. However, Android has progress only halfway to that number. Still, it’s an impressive feat that clearly shows Android is running away from competition in terms of volume. The number would be even higher if it included non-Google sanctioned Android products like the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Believing that Android’s growth rate will have to taper off eventually – hey, there are only so many people looking for a new phone – we theorized that the number of daily activation's will not rise like it has in H1 2011. That thought was strengthened by analyst firm Needham & Co. suggesting that the iPhone’s arrival on Verizon put a small dent in Android’s U.S. market share, and Nielsen reporting today that Android is losing ground among recent smartphone buyers. Considering that more Verizon customers who may have been waiting on the iPhone will be eligible for upgrades later this year, and new smartphone customers may be swayed into Apple’s corner because of i OS 5, it stands to reason that Android may not be as much of a runaway success as it has been.