Smartphones running Google’s Android operating system accounted for 25.5 percent of worldwide smartphone sales in the third quarter, according to Gartner. Though Apple shipped 13.5 million iPhones in the quarter, Android-powered smartphone shipments from Samsung, Motorola, HTC and other vendors totaled more than 20 million units, the research firm said.
The third quarter produced record sales of more than 81 million smartphones, noted Gartner Research Vice President Carolina Milanesi. “This quarter saw Apple and Android drive record smartphone sales,” Milanesi said. “Apple’s share of the smartphone market surpassed Research In Motion in North America to put it second behind Android, while Android volumes also grew rapidly, making it the No. 2 operating system worldwide,” she said.
Dominant in North America
As the Android platform dominated the North American smartphone market during the quarter, devices running Google’s mobile OS accounted for 75 to 80 percent of the smartphones sold by Verizon Wireless, according to Gartner.
Demand for Android devices picked up quickly in North America because Google’s OS offered the first real alternative to RIM and Apple, Milanesi observed. And as the first smartphone platform aside from the iPhone to offer “a good touch experience,” Android also became available in a variety of form factors, she explained.
“In Europe we had alternatives,” Milanesi said. “Samsung and LG have been bringing to market touch devices on their own OS before they transitioned to Android.”
Elsewhere in the world, the notoriety of the Android brand was not enough to gain momentum in the past. But now that the tier-one players overseas are beginning to deliver Android products, “sales have started to pick up and we expect Europe to be an important market for Android going forward,” Milanesi said.
Apple’s Main Advantage
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