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The Android Robot and friends at Googleplex. Thanks to niallkennedy of Flickr.com and Creative Commons.

Last week the reports on Q1 sales for smart phones were released, and in conjunction with the ecstatic Droid hype over the last couple months, Google’s Android OS unseated Apple’s iPhone for the #2 spot in smart phone sales. This is a great indicator that Q2 will see an even larger market share attained by Android for smart phone sales. (I ordered my own Droid Incredible last week.) Given that the Android was only initially offered for sale just over six months ago,  this is a very optimistic gauge for growth on the Android. Read more about the news here.

The recent success in smart phones equipped with Android is thanks is part due to Verizon’s extensive marketing campaign which downplays the capabilities of the #1 selling smart phone, the Blackberry, made by RIM. Android’s open compatibility is allowing phone manufacturers such as Motorola and HTC to develop new devices that run the software, and captivate consumers interest with sleek new offerings. Competition among phone manufacturers for consumer interest is driving innovation, as seen in the most recent release of the highly popular Droid by Motorola, and then less than two months later the Droid Incredible by HTC.

2010 is unfolding as the year that the mobile landscape is being redefined. Once a dreadfully slow and unreliable luxury item for only the most passionate tech junkies, access to the mobile web is bursting into the mainstream consumer demographic as ordinary people become entirely digital and connected to their lives online. The challenge remaining is how to capitalize on the rising usage of smart phones and the mobile web. First, the main demographic carrying around a smart phone today is: A male/female 25-44 who needs a productive yet playful phone and is looking for nice design combined with high performance. The next step is to determine the need that this demographic has when using their phone, and is not currently served or can be improved. Opportunities to enter the mobile industry are abundant, this is one of the few instances where time is still on your side to manifest the next popular phone app or mobile web service.

Leading up to the release of the Apple iPad, the tech world was buzzing all winter long after Apple released its plan on January 27th to sell its new touch screen tablet computer starting on April 2nd. Given the amount of press coverage this innovative product recieved over the last month, its hard to ignore and can not be passed by. The most recent one being their official release on the sale of the one millionth iPad, which provoked me to dig deeper into the subject.

Courtesy of allaboutgeorge of Flickr.com and Creative Commons

By taking a look at similar product releases in Apple’s past, one common trait can be seen among all of their new products: they take a high demand technology that’s in its early stages and then combine that with their marketing and design choices to characterize their product as the most innovative and advanced choice available. The iPad is no exception. First, the iPad’s most distinct characteristic is that it is a fully functional portable computer, which operates very similar to its already existing iPod touch, which has been widely popular because of its touch screen technology that was first unveiled on the iPhone. In other words,  we’ve seen touch screen technology, 3G access, and portable laptops before, but never all in the same box.  Apple packed the necessary computer components (minus a keyboard) into a slim metal case, and thats what has allowed them to market the iPad as the most convenient and versatile computer ever.

Now lets look at the iPad strictly from a numbers point of view:

1,000,000 iPad’s sold in 28 days. (All Wi-Fi-only models, 3G launched separately on April 30th.)

$499,000,000 Gross sales revenue. (Assuming all units sold were the 16GB model to error on the safe side. $499/each)

$260,000,000 Bill of Materials estimate. $260/each. (48% profit margin)

$239,000,000 Net Profit

Or 2,419,200 seconds in 28 days, which equates to $98.79 profit per second.

Now, this is just assuming their cheapest model available and not considering other imperative variables to the sales funnel. Either way, Apple is doing historic sales numbers on the hardware alone, just imagine the possibilities when revenue streams such as international sales, App Store commissions, and accessories are factored in. Once again Apple strikes into the market flawlessly, proving their technological drive within the tech industry as a whole. I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple once again fights off the slow competition, except this time at the touch of  a screen.