Android Ecosystem in 2014

According to IDC, The mobile device onslaught will continue in 2014 with sales of tablets growing by 18% and smartphones by 12%. The Android community, led by Samsung, will maintain its volume advantage over Apple, while Apple will hold onto its value edge with higher average selling prices and an established ecosystem of apps. But Google Play (Android) app downloads and revenues are making dramatic gains and the "app ecosystem value gap" will be significantly narrowed in 2014. And the clock will be ticking louder for Microsoft, which needs to quickly double mobile developer interest in Windows.

Google / BKL

Smartphone market competition is heating up in the developing world with new devices brought to market such as Android 4.4 KitKat. Google’s technology disruption plans within the low-end smartphone market is aimed to gain more than 75% of market share with Android 4.4 KitKat influencing further diversity in Google’s device offerings. 1 in every 3 Chinese consumers will purchase a smartphone in 2014. China’s total mobile phone shipments have reached 110 million in Q2 2013. Smartphone shipments, a subset of mobile phone shipments, reached 86 million, growing by 10% on a quarterly basis, according to IDC. Market share in China and India alone is well over 90%.

Android is poised to remain a market leader. Android 4.4 smartphones which are lower in cost are aimed to gain big wins over its consumers. With many versions of Android’s low cost smartphone now on the market, consumers can benefit from many areas such as low cost, lower resolution displays, minimal data speeds and smaller memory.

The report also states, spending on big data technologies and services will grow by 30% in 2014, surpassing $14 billion as demand for big data analytics skills continues to outstrip supply. Here the race will be on to develop "data-optimized cloud platforms", capable of leveraging high volumes of data and/or real-time data streams. Value-added content providers and data brokers will proliferate as enterprises (and developers) look for interesting data sources as well as applications that help them to understand their customers, products, and the markets in which they exist.

Wal-Mart has achieved competitive advantage by adopting Android applications and cost leadership strategy that are providing consumer goods at lower prices. Balancing big data with profitability is crucial to the success of a company. It is crucial to remain profitable in these areas.