In the ever-growing Android ecosystem, the one thing that still misses the mark is the number of quality applications. For the past year or so, that’s really come to light. The developers that we’ve spoken to often talk about how it’s more difficult to build for Android than it is for iOS. Beyond that, building for Android takes time that could often be better spent focusing on iOS profits. Unity Technologiesis offering a solution, at least for games developers, to both of these problems....

Although it is difficult to estimate exact numbers of Android units sold and activated, even Google themselves may not know, Asymco Analyst Horace Dedieu hasextrapolateda growth curve based on the data available. That chart shows that Android has grown nearly three times faster than iOS at comparable moments in its cycle. If Android continues to grow at this enhanced rate, then it should overtake the installed userbase of iOS in the next year....

Nokia better watch out asDigitimesreports shipments of Android handsets below $150 are expected reach 20-25 million units in 2011. More than anything, this would make an impact on budget-conscious feature phone users who wish to switch to affordable smartphones, which is a market currently dominated by Nokia. In 2010, shipments of the Android phones below $150 totaled only 2.5-3 million units, mostly by manufacturers from China–Huawei Technologies and ZTE. However, this is predicted to increase by 8-10 fold in 2011 because other manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Motorola are also stepping up their presence in the entry-level Android segment which would result to a substantial increase in shipments....

According to research firm Canalys, Google’s Android platform has captured nearly half of the global market for smartphones, reportsReuters. After a survey of the 56 countries that the firm tracks, Canalys conluded that Android was the number one platform in 35 of them, garnering it a total smartphone market share of about 48% in the process. Apple, whichrecently overtookNokia as the worlds largest individual maker of smartphones, garnered a 19% market share of smartphones with its platform, iOS....

Since Google announced and subsequently demonstrated its new tablet-centric Android Honeycomb operating system, the question on everyone’s lips is whether the software update will ever make it to onto future smartphones. IfPhandroidare to believed, specific parts of Honeycomb operating system will be ported over to smartphone devices but the full release will absolutely not be available for handsets. This is because Google is hard at work developing a new branch of code – codenamed GRI17, otherwise known as Ice Cream – that will bring the tablet and smartphone operating systems closer together, adding Honeycomb features to do so....