Android To Challenge Symbian For Mobile OS Domination

Clint Boulton eWEEK USA 2012. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved,

The huge impact of Android was underlined when Gartner predicted it will become the second placed mobile operating system in the world, behind Symbian

Gartner has predicted that Google Android will become the number two mobile operating system in the world behind Symbian, edging past RIM and Apple’s iOS this year.

Android will have almost 30 percent of the mobile OS market by 2014.

The research firm said marketing and vendor support from carriers will drive Android to 17.7 percent market share through 2010.

Symbian Retains Lead, For Now

That is still well behind Symbian, which boasts a 40.1 percent plot thanks to Nokia’s legacy volume of phones, but ahead of RIM’s 17.5 percent share and iOS at 15.4 percent.

However, Android, which is activated on 200,000 devices per day, will steadily creep up on Symbian over the next few years.

The OS, which held only 3.9 percent of the market through 2009, will nibble share from all corners of the worldwide market through 2014, when Symbian and Android will combine for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales.

Thanks to Nokia’s legacy volume of mobile phones, Symbian will lead with 30.4 percent, with Android just behind at 29.6 percent of worldwide market share.

Gartner Research analyst Roberta Cozza noted that Android’s ascension to second place on the worldwide mobile OS will happen two years earlier than Gartner predicted last year.

Android Devices

This status will be buoyed by the launch of new Android budget devices from Samsung, Sony Ericcson, LG and Motorola in the second half of the year that will “drive Android into mass market segments.”

This will serve to make Android the top OS in North America by 2010.

More broadly, the worldwide mobile OS market is increasingly becoming controlled by Symbian, Android, RIM and iOS. That would seem to leave little room at the top for Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS.

Conversely, IDC said 7 September Android and Windows Mobile will see their smartphone market share increase by 2014, with BlackBerry and Apple notching declines.

In its own figures, Quantcast said iOS continued to lead the US smartphone operating system ecosystem at 56 percent market share in August. Android grabbed a 25 percent plot.