Last week, we conducted a poll asking our readers what they planned to buy -- or hoped to receive -- as holiday gifts this year.
From the end user's perspective, it's a decision that's often based on marketing and emotions, but from the manufacturers' and networks' point of view, holiday shopping is a huge part of Q4 sales. And sales for some of these platforms could use a nice end-of-year boost.
While Apple and Google are enjoying an increasingly brisk tug-of-war for consumer dollars, selling millions upon millions of devices during 2010, Microsoft is refusing to report on initial Windows Phone 7 sales. And BlackBerry devices, though still a huge part of the mobile landscape, are definitely on the decline.
If our readers are any indication of things to come, Q4 is going to look exceptionally bright for sellers of Android devices.
Out of our 1,368 respondents, 41.2% said they were buying or receiving an Android device as a gift this year. Just 30.6% said the same for iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads. Around 12% said they'd be buying or receiving a Windows Phone 7 device, and just 4.1% were planning to give or get a BlackBerry.
What's even more interesting is that Android smartphones are by far the most popular items to give as gifts, according to our poll, with a full 31.6% of all respondents saying they'd buy or had already bought an Android as a gift for someone else.
