Android's incredible year continues, with sales from July to September making Android the world's second most popular smart phone OS, catching up fast to Symbian in the number one spot.
Android has cornered a quarter (25.5 per cent) of the world's smart phone market, according to a worldwide smart phone sales report. It rocketed past iOS and BlackBerry in third and fourth, and now follows close behind Symbian, which took out a 36.6-per-cent market share. The results continue the trend we saw in a previous Gartner report that analysed sales from April to June.
To put this into perspective, this time last year, Android's market share was at 3.5 per cent, while Symbian's was at 44.6 per cent. If this pattern continues, it won't be long before Android takes the highly coveted title of most popular smart phone OS.
If you simply browse the smart phones available at any store, the reasons for this are pretty obvious. Companies like Sony Ericsson, HTC, Motorola and Samsung have completely switched their focus to Android. They've turned away from Symbian, releasing Android handsets at high and low price points, from the costly HTC Desire HD to the cheap-as-chips Orange San Francisco.
The Android OS is also constantly being updated, which keeps the platform fresh. On the other hand, Symbian's troubles have been well documented. Nokia is the only major smart phone firm committed to the platform, with the Symbian Foundation disbanding after funding was removed by firms like Sony Ericsson and Samsung, who have since defected to Android.
Apple hasn't really been affected by Android's growth, as its market share remained steady at 16.7 per cent compared to 17.1 per cent last year. This shows the immense success of iPhone sales yet again, in spite of loads more competition.
But it wasn't good news for RIM, with its market share falling from 20.7 per cent to 14.8 per cent, meaning Apple's iOS has overtaken BlackBerry to become the world's third most popular OS.
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Comments 3
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Mark Anderson 11 November, 2010 17:38
"The Android OS is also constantly being updated, which keeps the platform fresh. On the other hand, Symbian's troubles have been well documented."
Indeed. You might, maybe, possibly get an update on your Hero or Legend or whatever to 2.2 (or is it 2.3)? Meanwhile I - and all the other millions who bought an S^3 device - will definitely be getting all the modular improvements for Symbian announced including the ones announced at SEE 2010 in early 2011 (new broswer, keyboard, Swype integration, etc).
You know, SEE 2010? The development platform for the world's biggest mobile OS which you... err... didn't seem to know was on?
"Nokia is the only major smart phone firm committed to the platform"
Apart from Fujitsu obviously.
Still, joking aside, good work from Android and choice is always a good thing.
EvilJoe39 11 November, 2010 19:44
"Companies like Sony Ericsson, HTC, Motorola and Samsung have completely switched their focus to Android"
HTC have completely switched their focus to Android? So the three new Win Phone 7 models are just an after thought then?
Anonymous 12 November, 2010 10:11
Do the cheapo business nokias count as symbian phones? That might account for the surprisingly large market share