Android Captures Smartphone Lead

[nsane.forums]

Android was the top operating system in smartphone sales in the U.S. in the second quarter, with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion finishing second and Apple's iOS in third, a Gartner analyst said last week.

While it may be too soon for Google and the Android community to assume the smartphone OS war is won in the U.S., Android's ascendancy to the top spot for the first time is a "milestone," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Android slightly edged out RIM in the U.S., with 4.96 million devices sold for the quarter, compared with RIM's 4.84 million. Apple 's iOS for the iPhone sold 3.22 million, Gartner said.

Other smartphone operating systems did far fewer sales in the U.S. in the quarter, with Microsoft 's Windows at 662,000, Symbian at 420,000 and all others at 434,000, Gartner said.

Nokia has had a challenge selling smartphones, and other mobile phones, in the U.S., even though its Symbian OS was No. 1 globally, with 25.3 million smartphones sold. RIM finished second globally with 11.2 million; Android finished third globally with 10.6 million and Apple's iOS was fourth globally with 8.7 million.

Android catapulted to first in the U.S. in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, when far fewer Android phones were sold. Only 380,000 Android smartphones sold in the second quarter of 2009, Gartner said.

More telling is that RIM sold 266,000 fewer smartphones in the U.S. in the second quarter compared to a year earlier. The third place iOS increased by 760,000 over the same period.

Milanesi said the next big milestone for Android will be to move into second place in the world by the end of 2011, which Gartner has predicted it will do for some time. "Things have moved much faster than anticipated in terms of platform evolution, device rollout and carrier support" for Android, she said.

Android benefits over other mobile operating systems, especially the iOS, because it runs on dozens of different phones at a wide range of prices and with many carriers, analysts have noted.

Because Apple and even RIM are limited by the number of different models they can produce annually, it is possible that Android will stay on top in the U.S. for some time. When Android reaches second place globally to Nokia, it's likely to remain there for a long time, they added.

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[bashar]

it's android time

i'm thinking of buying an android smart-phone

but that wont happen before 2011

i think it's over with symbian !

[mara-]

Well, I'm not sure it's over for symbian. Symbian 3 looks very promising.

Cheers ;)