the smartphone wars...people. platforms. analysis.

Android is killing it! In the superphone battle. But really just the semantic one.

Is there a conspiracy afoot to not include iPhone in certain smartphone sales numbers?

Google, which buys lots of market research, may be behind a push to have their latest flagship Nexus -- and other high-end Android devices -- classified *not* as smartphones, but as "superphones".

And to have the fellatious research firms *not* include iPhone in the "superphone" category. 

This would, theoretically, have the benefit of suggesting that an Android, as a superphone, is superior. Because as we all still know, but haterz refuse to admit, hardware specs do *not* equate with better.

Google, apparently, is hoping they and their supplicants can convince people otherwise. 

Very clever of them, you ask me.

In addition, by classifying certain smartphones as "smartphones" and certain ones as "superphones" -- and not including iPhone in that superphone category -- any chart of sales or breakdown of marketshare or reviews of superphones would be free from competing against iPhone.

The latest from Strategy Analytics, which don't get paid unless some big corporation pay them:

Global Superphone Sales to Grow 200 Percent in 2011

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, superphones will be the world’s fastest growing sub-category of wireless handsets this year. Global superphone sales will grow 200 percent in 2011, driven by popular models such as the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Alex Spektor, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “Superphones are a relatively new sub-category of wireless handsets that first appeared on the global market in 2009. Superphones integrate high-level operating systems with supersized displays of at least 4 inches and superfast processors of at least 1GHz. Popular superphone models available today include the Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC Sensation. We forecast global superphone sales to grow an impressive 200 percent in 2011, increasing fifteen times faster than the overall handset market’s growth rate of 13 percent. Superphones will be the world’s fastest growing sub-category of wireless handsets this year.”

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Superphones are driving super growth. Consumers and operators like the richer experience of larger screens and faster processing speeds that can be delivered by superphones. Samsung is currently the world’s leading superphone vendor due to the success of its Android-powered Galaxy S2 model, and Samsung has been aggressively leveraging this leadership to attack rivals with much weaker superphone portfolios such as Nokia, Blackberry and even Apple.”

Thus, since iPhone 'lacks' a "supersized" 4 inch plus display, it won't be counted.

Smartphone War is Peace.

And losing is winning, apparently. When you're a superphone.