Google says over 700,000 Android devices are activated each day

Google's Android platform is steadily climbing toward 1 million daily activations. There are currently more than 700,000 Android activations every day, Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, announced Tuesday night.

"For those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and 'activations' means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service," Rubin said in a followup post on Google+.

The news comes just one month after Google announced at its November music event that there were 550,000 Android activations each day. Back in June, Rubin said that number was at 500,000, up from 350,000 in April.

With numbers like that, it's not surprisingly that Android is one of the most popular smartphone operating systems around the globe. About 44.2 percent of those in the U.S. have Android-based devices, split largely between handsets from HTC (15.8 percent), Samsung (10.4 percent), and Motorola (10.7 percent), according to recent data from Nielsen.

The most recent version of Android, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, made its debut in the U.S. on Dec. 15 via the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Other Android owners are eagerly awaiting the update, but it's been tough to nail down exact dates for when those upgrades might occur. For more on that, see Google's Android Update Alliance Not Living Up To Expectations.

The Android OS is also facing a few patent challenges. Yesterday, an initial International Trade Commission decision ruled in favor of Microsoft in a case involving Android-based Motorola devices, though a final decision is not expected until April 2012. Earlier this week, the ITC also ruled in Apple's favor regarding Android-based HTC devices, though experts called the decision "limited."

This article, written by Chloe Albanesius, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.