Android's Racking Up Points, but Is iPhone Even Playing the Game?

So I've been watching all the latest smartphone and mobile device and operating system numbers come in from various analysts, and they've basically been saying the same thing: The Android horde is here.

The NPD Group reported that Android accounted for 33 percent of all smartphones purchased in Q2, ahead of RIM (28 percent) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) (22 percent). Gartner (NYSE: IT) says the Android OS has overtaken Apple to become the third most popular smartphone OS in the world. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt even put a more interesting spin on the numbers when he said about 200,000 new Android devices are making it into the hands of consumers each day.

I'm finding it really hard to care.

Am I worried that thousands of smart iPhone iOS developers will leave Apple and take their cool apps to Android instead?

No.

Smartphone Evolution

There's a swirling vortex of action in the mobile world these days, and the waters won't calm any time soon. RIM's iconic BlackBerry world is evolving, albeit slowly, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is struggling but will eventually right its skewed ship. And usually good manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola (NYSE: MMI), and HTC are cranking out better Android-based phones left and right, ready to be sold by various carriers around the world. Plus, the mobile device ecosystem is a huge and growing market, worldwide.

Because of the wide-ranging support and broad marketing channels -- many carriers, multiple manufacturers -- Android was bound to take off. The fact that it's a great and flexible operating system no doubt helps, too.

But Android-based phones will never hold the fame and notoriety of an Apple iPhone -- for several reasons.

First is overall fit and finish. Apple is a huge manufacturer, but it puts out products as if they were made by a master craftsman. It shows. You can feel the quality when you hold an iPhone in your hand. It's always there. Even the dreaded iPhone antenna death grip issue only creates a minor irritation. While traveling, I experienced the dropped calls first-hand. Annoying as hell. Two strips of black electrician's tape on the sides, and I'm fine. The phone looks a little dumb, sure, but the massive demand for cases will eventually slow and I'll get one ... and attenuation problem will be resolved.

Either way, the sturdy iPhone construction helps owners like me overlook the flaw.

The other manufacturers are catching up, definitely, but as new Android phones hit the market, it's hard to keep track of them all. Hard to figure out which ones are exclusive to Verizon or Sprint (NYSE: S) and which one is now the best Android phone available this week.

At the heart of it, Android is just software -- there is no iconic device, and I find it hard to imagine that Motorola, HTC, Samsung, or LG, for example, will be able to create a piece of hardware that can hold the same massive public appeal of the iPhone.

Android has no real cachet in terms of trend-setting. Just when you think Android is picking up steam, OkCupid attracts attention by releasing a claim that Android users are having less sex than iPhone or BlackBerry owners. In the face of the growing Android sales, I don't think this claim can last particularly long -- clearly, most early adopters of Android-based smartphones knew what they were getting into. And while I'm no expert of demographics, I didn't get the impression that many Android adopters were spending an awful lot of quality time dating. In order to understand the true value of an Android phone over an iPhone, you had to be pretty well plugged into the gadget world. But when 200,000 people buy an Android-based smartphone each day, the number of geeks choosing screen time over physical human interaction is thinning out, relatively speaking.

Distribution? Who Needs Distribution?

In the history of the mass-market world, distribution is key. Same goes for Android today. Apple made its name by creating high-quality niche computers. The iPod was Apple's first product to truly dominate a segment. The iPhone hasn't really dominated the smartphone segment with straight sales numbers, but it's set and reset the bar. Everyday consumers understand it. Kids want it. Grandparents get it, and even buy the 32GB model without really understanding why they need 32GB in the first place. (Yes, I've seen this first-hand.)

While Apple seemed to be going after market domination with the iPod, and now with the iPad, I'm not sure that Apple wants or believes it can dominate the smartphone segment. Even with its retail stores and innovative take-it-home-and-activate-it-yourself sales model, the demand for mobile devices is too high for Apple to dominate. There's plenty of room to carve out a very profitable piece of the pie, though.

I get the impression that Apple is content with that. For now. Until it offers phones through more carriers in the world. Until it lets Verizon provide service for a new iPhone. Things might change then. In the meantime, to most iPhone owners, Android phones are out there, like a flock of pigeons. And the iPhone? It's still an elegant swan.