Android third largest OS
According to Gartner’s press release yesterday, Android grew another 50% and is not the third largest OS.
Also for the first time, Symbian has dipped below 50% worldwide sales. With all of the security related issues RIM is facing overseas, it’s only a matter of time before Android takes the #2 spot. How many Android phones have been released worldwide over the last few months? Anyone have an exact count?
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Android expanded rapidly in the second quarter of 2010, overtaking Apple’s iPhone OS to become the third-most-popular OS in the world (see Table 2). In the U.S, it also overtook RIM’s OS to become the No. 1 smartphone OS in this region. “A non-exclusive strategy that produces products selling across many communication service providers (CSPs), and the backing of so many device manufacturers, which are bringing more attractive devices to market at several different price points, were among the factors that yielded its growth this quarter,” said Ms. Milanesi.
Smartphone sales to end users totaled 61.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 50.5 percent increase from the same period in 2009. The top four smartphone OS vendors exhibited growth in the second quarter of 2010, and accounted for 91 percent of the worldwide smartphone OS market, up 6 percent year-on-year.
Surprisingly, Windows Mobile retained a 5% market share. It will be interesting to see what happens when Windows Phone 7 releases. Will Microsoft adopt a non-exclusive strategy with the backing of many device manufacturers?
Full press release