The curious case of slowing US growth for Android

If 91 million people already have smartphones (I don't know if that is true, I'm taking the linked article at face value), shouldn't we expect growth to be slowing?<p>There are 310 million people who live in the US and not everyone in that 310 million is a target customer for a smartphone (young kids, older folks, people who just don't like cellphones).<p>Based on nothing but common sense it seems fairly obvious to me that growth will continue but at a slowing pace -- the market isn't saturated, but much of the low-hanging fruit is snatched up.

Data point: Last I checked, Verizon only offered 4 phones that do not require a data plan. Everything else they offer is Android, BB, iOS, and maybe WinPhone. Even their semismart Samsung phones require some $15 data plan.<p>At least when walking into a Verizon store, your perceived choice was android or android; everything else is plopped into a corner. I wonder if they will be successful in converting the remaining feature phone customers by simply removing that option in the future.<p>Is the same thing happening on other carriers?

When someone comments about growth percentages, most of the time either he doesn't know what he is talking about or is intentionally or subconsciously interpreting numbers to misguide.

So, Android's market share and position has stabilized. No big deal.<p>As the Android phones get cheaper and cheaper, they will invade the low-end mobile phone segment in masses and gain some further additional growth from there. But only some.<p>The thing is, when nearly everyone, including non-computer-savvy people, has an Android phone, it becomes an infrastructure in itself and in its own ubiquity a platform never seen before. Just think what you can do with that if you're a service provider.

This is not coincidence.<p>1) the iPhone's availability on Sprint (Oct 2011)<p>2) HTC revenue dips 30% (November 2011)