However, an iPhone rival reached its own milestone this week; T-Mobile has now
The stats don't compare favorably to the iPhone: it took the G1 six months to reach the milestone, while the iPhone sold 500,000 units in its first week. Nonetheless, 1 million phones is not an insignificant number: could it make a difference?
The state of the Android application platform
The Google Android application platform has a lot of similarities to the iPhone, but is still unique in a few ways. One of the primary ones: Android apps can run in the background, making it easier to develop applications with IM capabilities and push notifications. This is a big issue that the new iPhone 3.0 OS is trying to address.
Android already has several apps popular on the iPhone, including the music analysis app Shazam, Skype, Meebo, and Last.fm. It also has a few social media apps like MySpace mobile, I Tweet!, and an unofficial Facebook app called fBook.
However, not all great iPhone apps are available on Android: one notable absentee is the popular Tweetie [iTunes link] application for Twitter.
It's not that Android isn't capable of running these apps, but more that it hasn't become cost-effective for many developers to develop for the Android instead of working on a new app for the iPhone. Hitting the million-phone milestone is perhaps a small step towards that accomplishment.
What a million Android phones means
The iPhone has dominated the application space with an iron fist. It attracts the lion's share of developers because they can make more money on the iPhone platform. But the Android platform has a lot of possibilities with apps able to run in the background, support from Google, and a rising userbase.
Competition is generally a good thing - it forces companies to build better products and services. Phones with application platforms like Android, the iPhone, and now the BlackBerry make it far easier for entrepreneurs and developers to create richer, more social mobile experiences.