Android Takes Over 50% of Smartphone Market
Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system has taken over more than 50 percent of the all the smartphones that were sold in the 3rd quarter, taking a bite out of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS operating system.
The Android smartphones sold were mostly from Samsung Electronics Co., according to a the reports released by Gartner Inc. on Tuesday. Android accounted by about 52.5 percent of the overall smartphones sold in United States.
Apple managed to sell just 17.3 million iPhones, gaining a 15 percent market share. In the third quarter, Apple had a market share of 16.6 percent. The 1.6 percent loss of Apple came from Android. Google is estimated to have sold around 60.5 million units in the third quarter, higher than the 20.5 million smartphones sold in the third quarter of this year.
The figures come in a quarter when Apple released its highly anticipated iPhone 4S. Many customers were disappointed with the newly launched device, because of the absence of any ground breaking features and also visual upgrade. Many customers who were delaying purchases of phones in the hopes of buying the new Apple device, invested in Android platforms instead after the release of the iPhone.
According to the report, Gartner benefitted from a absence of any tough competitors, mass market offering and also the absence of any new products on alternative operating systems, i.e. Apple iOS and Microsoft’s Mobile Widows Phone OS.
Smartphones manages to do one percentage point better than last quarter, with 26 percent of all mobile phone sales being smartphones. Nokia’s Symbian platform saw the highest loss of 20 percent, with the recently unveiled Microsoft based phones yet to reach state side. Global Nokia still holds the number two position in the third quarter.
Google’s Android growth caused withering shares of all other platforms. Research In Motion’s shares fell to 11 percent from 15.4 percent. RIM announced two new phones on Tuesday, which are aimed to compete against Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone smartphone.
According to the report, the Western Europe smartphone growth has slowed down, because of the economic uncertainty in the region. Smartphone growth also slowed, in comparison to the second quarter. There was high growth seen in Russian and Chinese market. According to the report’s forecasts, the smartphone market is set to further grow by more than 50 percent for the full year.
 |
Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht. |
