Google is activating more than 500,000 Android devices every day, indicating a continuing momentum for the smartphone operating system, according to a tweet from Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of engineering. The company also said that this figure is increasing by 4.4 percent week-on-week, countering observations that the platform growth is slowing – and meaning Android could reach 1 million activations per day by the end of 2011. Last week, investment firm Needham & Co said that Android has begun a period of market share loss in the US market, as Apple’s iPhone gained, with this company also noting that Android’s international growth is slowing – contrasting with Google’s latest assertion. In December 2010, Rubin said that 300,000 Android devices were being activated daily.

It looks as if vendors producing devices powered by Android, including HTC,LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, are being able to pick up market share from ailing smartphone number one Nokia, which offers products powered by the now end-of-line Symbian OS platform. Indeed, it has been reported that investment bank Nomura believes that Nokia is set to lose its smartphone crown in the near future, with Android-proponent Samsung set to take its place. If there is a fly in the Android ointment, it is that tablet sales for the platform are believed to be slow, despite the availability of numerous devices from multiple vendors. Google has not broken-out what proportion of device activations are for tablet devices.