Google activates 3.7 million Android devices over Christmas, but Apple still wins

Google's Andy Rubin says that Android activations reached3.7 million devices over Christmas, but a breakdown of numbers shows thatApple's Christmas activations may almost double Google's.

Not long ago, Google revealed that it is activating 700,000Android devices per day. Well, Christmas has been kind to Android. Andy Rubin,head of Android, Tweeted that 3.7 million Android devices were activated onDec. 24-25, meaning a lot of people got new phones for Christmas.

iOS Christmas activations may be even higher, at least inthe US.

According to data released by Flurry, which tracks activations throughthe 140,000 apps that use its analytics service, 6.8 million new iOS andAndroid devices were activated on Christmas Day alone, meaning that unless iOSand Android posted incredibly small and disproportionate activation numbers onChristmas Eve, iOS likely posted a lot more activations than Android. Even ifGoogle had 80 percent of its Dec. 24-25 activations on Christmas Day, thatmeans that it only activated about 3 million devices, which would then leave3.8 million for iOS. It’s likely, however, that Apple’s lead is moresubstantial. Again though, our data is far from complete.

Localytics reports that growth of combined iPod, iPad, andiPhone activations exceeded Android by a bit, though without actual sales to goby, it’s hard to say if iOS actually out-activated Android or not. In otherregions of the world, like Sweden and South Korea (home country of Samsung),Android posted a healthy lead.

Did you get an iPhone or Android device for Christmas? AKindle Fire counts, you know. What about your friends? It sounds like bothcompanies had a great Christmas to us.