Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Android becomes top smartphone platform, beats Symbian
By siliconindia
|
Tuesday, 01 February 2011, 16:07 IST
Bangalore: Google's mobile operating system Android has become the world's top smartphone platform pushing Nokia's Symbian down to the second spot. "Shipments of Android-based smartphones reached 32.9 million, while devices running Nokia's Symbian platform trailed slightly at 31.0 million worldwide," reports a new study by the British research firm Canalys.
The increase in Android shipments is driven mainly by strong sales from handset makers like South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan's HTC, both together accounted for almost 45 percent of all the Android phones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Vendors benefited largely by Google's operating system's high demand with players such as LG, Samsung, Acer, and HTC saw their sales volumes jump 4,127 percent, 1,474 percent, 709 percent, and 371 percent respectively from the last quarter of 2009.
Android was also ranked the top mobile platform during this period in the U.S. ahead of Apple's iOS. Apple's iPhone operating system has 16 percent of worldwide smartphone platform market in the fourth quarter.
Apple doubled its iPhone shipments to 16.2 million from only 8.7 million a year ago; however, its market share declined minimally to 16 percent from 16.3 percent. Blackberry maker Research in Motion also saw a rise in shipments from 10.7 million the previous year to 14.6 million this quarter. RIM's market share dropped to 14.4 percent from 20 percent.
Microsoft's Windows Mobile phones couldn't do well this quarter with its shipments going down to 3.1 million from 3.9 million and market share dropping to 3.1 percent from 7.2 percent the previous year.
The market equations may undergo a restructuring when iPhone makes its debut on Verizon Wireless in the U.S.
