activations
Latest
Google reaches 100 millionth Android activation, 400,000 Android devices activated daily
36 OEMs, 215 carriers, 450,000 Android developers all over the world, Google wants to say "thank you!" Android has recently crossed its 100 millionth activation milestone, and is also growing at its fastest pace yet: 400,000 devices activated each and every day. There are now 200,000 Android applications in the Market, which have accumulated a total of 4.5 billion installs, at a rate which Google actually says is accelerating. These figures have all been cited as a way to illustrate Google's mobile momentum, which is evidently not even thinking about slowing down.
Visualized: Android activations mapped geographically, chronologically, breathtakingly (video)
Do you ever wish for an easier way to show your uninitiated friends what you mean when you say Android is growing? Well, here's the video for you: a Google-produced map of the world that throbs with Android activations over time, highlighted by some truly eye-opening flourishes in the immediate aftermath of marquee handset launches. The Google guys have even given us handy countdown timers -- "Droid launch in 3, 2, 1..." -- and broken things down by continent for easier viewing. Only thing missing is a soundtrack, so just have your Tron: Legacy OST loaded up and ready before jumping past the break. [Thanks, Leo Z.]
Andy Rubin: over 300,000 Android phones activated daily
Cast your mind back to the ancient time that was this August and you'll recall Eric Schmidt telling you, with no lack of pride, that 200,000 Android phones were being sold each and every day. Skip past Steve Jobs' snide remarks about what's included in that tally, and fast-forward to today, where Andy Rubin is blowing minds with the latest, very nicely rounded, total: 300,000 daily activations. Yes, in spite of being the most fragmented thing this side of our 10-year old hard drives, the Android OS just keeps growing at an exponential rate. So Steve, any comment on today's data? Were they counting it wrong? [Thanks, Dell]
Jobs suggests that competitors' device activation tallies may be inflated, Google quickly responds
Not satisfied to simply trump Google's daily device activation numbers, Steve Jobs added insult to injury at the Apple press conference this afternoon, claiming that unspecified "friends" have been counting handset upgrades in their statistical totals and not just newly activated phones. As you might imagine, Google was not terribly pleased at this turn of events, and issued the following retort: "The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services." Now, we don't honestly know who's telling the truth here and we'd like to be able to take both companies at their word, but this isn't the first time even during this particular Apple shindig that questionable claims were thrown out as fact. [Thanks, Kamal]
Apple ships 120 million iOS devices since iPhone's launch
Steve Jobs just dropped a few numbers on us. Firstly, that big one above, 120 million iOS devices -- that's iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, for the forgetful in the class -- have been shipped since the original iPhone made its grand debut back in 2007. 230,000 is the next number of significance -- that's the tally of daily iOS activations. Moving down to even more granular stats, Apple says 200 apps are being downloaded every second, which has resulted in the mind-bending 6.5 billion total downloads of iOS applications. This is from a catalog of over 250,000 total apps, with 25,000 of them being available for the iPad. Yeah, Apple's just blowing its horn, but it sure is a big one, ain't it?
AT&T activated 3.1 million iPhones last quarter, 1 million non-phones
While Verizon suffers a bit on paper, primarily thanks to a spendy Alltel merger, AT&T has some pretty good news to report on the "money" front. AT&T's $3 billion in earnings are up 26% over the year ago quarter, and particularly hot on the wireless front with 3.1 million iPhone activations, 2.7 million new wireless customers, and 1 million non-phone devices like e-book readers. While the 2.7 million bests the 2.2 million newbies at Verizon Wireless, AT&T gained less customers on contract thanks to its any-device-goes ways, so it's hard to say who's really in the best position here. Still, with devices like the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and now iPad in its fold, AT&T is clearly the go-to for getting your not-a-phone onto the internet. Now if only it could do it, um, well.
Apple's retail chief on iPhone activations
Worried that you might be spending a lot of time waiting for that shiny new iPhone 3G to be activated? Well, never fear because the nice people at the Apple Store are there to help you. Bloomberg.com interviewed Apple's retail chief, Ron Johnson, about the iPhone retail activation process. "Apple stores will handle about 30 customers at a time. While the company will make sure the activation process is quick," said Johnson about the activation time. Johnson then went on to say that Apple will spend as much time as needed to make sure that the customer is happy with their purchase. You can read the full interview on the Bloomberg website. [via MacRumors]
Two possible fixes for iPhone activation problems
For those still stuck in iPhone activation limbo, we have a couple of tips and tricks might help you to get on your way. While these might not be sure-fire solutions for everyone, they sound general enough and have worked for at least two individuals, so they just might work for you as well. First up is a three-step process from Download Squad's Alex Hung which involves shuffling a couple of SIM cards around. After waiting far too long like so many others, Alex called AT&T who told him that the iPhone activation process involves two basic steps: the first is the SIM activation, while the second is some sort of iTunes verification process (if I had to guess, this is for Apple's records to keep track of who owns which phones and how many, since they get a cut of every AT&T iPhone contract). Like many others, Alex received the email that the SIM activation process had completed, but his iPhone still wasn't working. After a phone call and some clever deduction, here is Alex's trick that might help some of you get your iBricks to start working more like iPhones. Note, however, that this requires you to already be an AT&T customer with a Cingular or AT&T phone and SIM card separate from the iPhone: Assuming you've already gone through the initial activation process and are stuck somewhere in limbo like so many others, power down your iPhone and swap out the iPhone's SIM (outlined in this downloadable iPhone User Guide - your first search result in that document for "SIM" should do it) for the SIM from your old phone. Power the phone back on. Plug the iPhone back into iTunes to force a new activation process (every time you swap the iPhone's SIM, it will need to be plugged into iTunes and verified before your iPhone will work). Your activation might or might not work this second time around with your old SIM, but once you complete it, power the phone back down. Proceed to step 3. Swap out the SIM cards again and re-insert the SIM that originally came with your iPhone. For the heck of it, wait a minute or two before powering the iPhone back on. If all goes well, your new iPhone SIM and iTunes verification will have finally straightened out, allowing you to use your iPhone as Apple originally intended. You might have to power cycle the phone one more time (Alex did), as the iPhone might actually request you to do so, but this trick just might work for some of you. If it does, or if you have any modifications to the steps that ultimately get your iPhone up and running, please share in the comments. A catch with this method, however, is that we really aren't sure what will happen to your other activation requests if this trick actually succeeds. We also aren't sure whether this is a 'good' way to get your iPhone up and running, since you will technically be entering a second activation process into AT&T's (and possibly Apple's) systems, which could potentially cause more problems. If anyone knows something we don't about this trick, please share that in the comments as well and we'll be happy to update this post.The second method is detailed by Rogue Amoeba's Paul Kafasis on the company's blog. This one is a bit simpler, though potentially more time consuming: Paul essentially called a specific AT&T number (1-877-800-3701), selected the proper extension (#1) and waited 45 minutes until getting a representative who explained the situation. Turns out that Paul's activation was a manual process that wasn't fully completed by the original rep who handled it. After this new rep apparently fixed a small issue by adding a required feature and clicking the "Yes, Paul can use his iPhone now" button, he was up and running with his iPhone.Of course, these solutions might not work for everyone, but we sure hope they can bring a smile to at least some of you who have had a less-than-stellar experience getting their iPhones actually working like iPhones. Of course, if you have your own ideas or modifications to these solutions, please share them in the comments and we'll update this post.
