New smartphone buyers prefer Android, says just-released research from Neilsen.
"Android is now the most popular operating system among people who bought a smartphone in the past six months, while Blackberry [from] Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS are in a statistical dead heat for second place among recent acquirers," reads a blog post reporting the findings.
Most telling is the table showing Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) gains since January, reproduced here:
Here's my take on what this report means, Fool:
- Buyers couldn't care less about the ongoing fragmentation in the Android OS.
- Among prospective buyers, the iPhone isn't viewed as any better than Motorola's (NYSE: MOT) Droid or comparable winners from HTC and Samsung.
- Google's Nexus One experiment was a success even if it was short-lived.
- It may not matter that Verizon (NYSE: VZ) isn't ready for the iPhone, Apple could use the added distribution.
- Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has little time to make Palm relevant again.
Now it's your turn to weigh in. What do you think of Nielsen's findings? Would you buy Google? Short Research In Motion? Short Apple? Share your thoughts in the comments box below, and click the links if you're interested in adding Apple, Google, or Research In Motion to your Foolish watch list.
