According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, Android has usurped Apple for the #2 spot in the US smartphone market. RIM still leads the pack with it’s Blackberrys (-ies?) commanding a 36% market share, with Google’s Android OS now at 28% and Apple’s iPhone at 21%. AT&T, amazingly still the only company to offer the iPhone in the US, is still the leader of the pack with a total 32% of the smartphone market with Verizon trailing closely behind at 30%.

With the release of the iPhone OS 4.0, the next generation iPhone (Potentially called the iPhone HD), and a rumored Verizon offering all coming this summer, one can likely expect the iPhone’s market share to climb back up by fall and potentially retake second place.

For the past week, I have changed by default browser on both my home and work computers (Apple iMacs running Mac OS X Snow Leopard) to Google Chrome. I have not previously used Chrome and have been a long-time loyal user of Firefox, but I’ve heard good things and figured I’d give it a shot. Knowing I wouldn’t get much out fo it just downloading it and surfing for a half hour, I decided the best way to really get to know it is to not use other browsers and exclusively use Chrome.

The Good
The absolute first thing I noticed when I opened it up is that if I had blinked, I would have missed it. When it comes to opening speed, Firefox is, well, slow. I had previously thought Safari was quick to load, but Chrome even makes Apple’s default browser seem sluggish. Beyond just opening, page loading is also speedy and smooth. Also a terrific feature is the ever-growing selection of extensions. This is something that I’ve always enjoyed about Firefox and is a great first step if Google wants me to switch over to their offering. Even the interface itself is clean, intuitive, and simple to use. Overall it is a very appealing browser and is constantly being updated with new features trying to stay ahead of the competition.

The Bad
I’m not a big fan of the search box and address bar merger. I have a ton of different search engines that I use regularly and the ability to rapidly toggle between them. Chrome, sadly, does not make this an easy task.

The Ugly
There were more than just a handful of sites with nagging visual errors that just simply are not there when using Firefox or Safari. I can overlook just about every other issue I have with Chrome, but incorrectly displaying pages that I frequent is a dealbreaker.

After a week, I will admit I am impressed. Although Google Chrome will not be usurping Firefox as my primary browser, it has earned a spot in my Applications folder and I will be continuing to use it as a secondary browser.

No one outside of Apple themselves likely knows exactly what is in store for the Maps app on the iPhone, but a new job posting at Apple is looking for someone to help “take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things.” From the sounds of this, it isn’t going to be a small undertaking and will likely not be a small release, instead coming with a future version of the iPhone OS. As part of a split from their long-time cooperation with Google, Apple has even recently acquired a company called Placebase which offered mapping services much different from those offered by Google. The former Placebase CEO is now part of Apple’s “Geo Team”, which is likely where this new job posting will be working as well.

There have been a lot of Google “Doodles” over the years for various different holidays, anniversaries, or events. The following depicts what, at least in my opinion, have been the best of the best based off the creativity and originality in the alteration of their standard logo.

1. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! – March 2, 2009
2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Birthday – June 8, 2005
   
3. First Day of Spring – Design by Eric Carle – March 20, 2009
   
4. 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick – January 28, 2008
   
5. VOTE – November 2, 2004
   
6. Leap Year – February 29, 2004
   
7. Happy Halloween! – October 31, 2003
   
8. Earth Day – April 22, 2008
   
9. Louis Braille’s Birthday – January 4, 2006
   
10. Google’s 10th Birthday – September 27, 2008
    

They had this up all day yesterday in honor of the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), better known as Dr. Seuss.