Samsung (News - Alert) and Android were big stories in the European smartphone market in early 2013. Samsung represented about half of all smartphones sold in Europe in the three months ending in May 2013, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Also in May 2013, Android (News - Alert) had 70 percent share across five major European markets (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), up from 61 percent, year over year.

But some might argue there are multiple battles being fought in the smartphone business, and not everything hinges on device leadership, measured in terms of market share.


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In fact, some might argue the key in the device battle is not market share leadership at all.

Some make the argument that Android’s share will not, in the end, help Google (News - Alert). The argument is that platform dominance will not necessarily be driven by operating system share, but by application ecosystem business models.

Skeptics might argue that Apple (News - Alert) wins, in the end, because Apple’s revenue model aligns application provider and Apple interests, while Android might, or might not, do so.

At the same time, leading mobile service providers are taking steps to support rival operating systems, in part to lessen the growing influence Apple and Google have in the device market and broader mobile ecosystem.

Some might point to data suggesting Apple users spend more money buying apps, or spend more time using the Web and apps.

Flurry data shows that Apple users spend more time interacting with apps than do Android users, for example.

So some might argue there are a couple of leadership battles being fought in the smartphone market. The most obvious is the device share competition, generally seen to be a Samsung-Apple contest at the moment.

Some might argue the operating system share battle is a separate competition, and has implications for Apple, Google, Microsoft (News - Alert) and others to the extent that operating system licenses are a direct revenue stream or provide indirect benefits.

Application providers likewise have a separate competition going on, for leadership in app revenue (direct and indirect).

Still, though it is unclear precisely how much advantage Google gleans from Android operating system leadership, most observers might conclude Google does gain from Android operating system leadership, if in indirect ways that are hard to measure.