The mobile story for 2011 was the rise of Android. It looks like the mobile story for 2012 is not going to be so good for Android. It appears as though the operating system is in choppy waters, and is suddenly facing a lot of trouble. We're going to lay out all the small and big problems we're seeing for Android in this post.
Let's start with Facebook buying Instagram. This is bad news for Android, because it shows that a developer can build a massively successfully product without using Android.
The next problem that is bad for Android is that it has been a complete bust in the tablet space. The success of the Kindle Fire shows that you don't need Google's approval to create a great Android product. This is only going to lead to more companies doing the same making Android more fragmented and causing Google to lose control over its mobile operating system.
Finally, the latest release of Android's operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, has been all but ignored by consumers and by cellphone carriers.
Add to that other problems -- waning developer interest, pissed off handset partners, a super fragmented operating system, and carriers preparing to support Windows -- and Android is suddenly in trouble.