There are two types of consumers who buy Android phones:

1. Nerds.
2. Regular people who can’t afford to switch carriers for a phone (ETFs, plan costs, etc).

What this list is missing is the crucial third category: everybody else. Neither Android phones nor the operating system itself are drawing users from other carriers (nerds aside). Why is this? Branding.

Ask a regular person what Android is, they’ll probably say “That phone with the creepy commercials.” That isn’t necessarily a bad thing: the Droid family are some of the best Android phones available and are certainly fit to represent the operating system. What you won’t often hear from is that it is Google’s operating system. Google is a major brand the world over, with the number-one search engine and widely-used products like Gmail; yet, it isn’t obviously tying itself to the Android OS. Sure, the phones might have “Google” etched on the back and logos scattered throughout the OS, but it isn’t explicit enough to Joe Consumer that Google is the company developing and responsible for Android.

In retrospect, Google should have dropped the old Android moniker when it bought the original company and rebranded it with “Google Mobile” or something comparable. The Nexus One was an attempt to regain control of the Android brand identity, but it was poorly marketed and didn’t have much appeal outside of the nerd community. It’s a fantastic device, but I doubt anyone who doesn’t regularly read tech blogs knows that Google makes their own phone.

Android, simply put, isn’t a brand. An Android phone is seen as the next-best alternative to the iPhone in the eyes of the regular consumer, and, depending on who this consumer is, it might even be seen as the third option when considering RIM’s offerings. Who knows what will happen when the Windows Phone 7 devices come out later this year.

The real question here is whether or not Android will be continually overshadowed in marketshare by its competitors. Even with its branding issues, Android can still achieve a plurality of device installs because it can be on so many more platforms and devices than the iPhone. iPhone users are wealthier and more educated than Android users, but over time there will always be more less-affluent consumers looking for phones than there will be buyers who fit the iPhone demographic (Nielsen). It comes down to whether or not a) Apple will open the iPhone to multiple carriers b) Apple makes its phones cheaper c) AT&T becomes more aggressive in it’s pricing and competition.

However, regardless of which company loses, the consumer still wins.