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Android to dominate smartphone market by 2012

Gartner claims Google’s mobile OS will feature on almost half of all smartphones by the end of next year.

By Jennifer Scott, 7 Apr 2011 at 11:02

Android is set to take over the smartphone market, according to a report from Gartner.

The analyst firm claimed Google’s mobile operating system would run on half of all smartphones by the end of 2012. If Gartner’s predictions for sales also prove to be correct, this could equate to more than 300 million handsets.

“As vendors delivering Android-based devices continue to fight for market share, price will decrease to further benefit consumers,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.

“Android's position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity in the longer term will be in the mid to low-cost smartphones, above all in emerging markets.”

This isn’t just good news for Google though, as the report claimed all open operating systems would reap the benefits over the coming years.

It claimed open software would be on 26 per cent of mobiles shipped this year and reach 47 per cent by 2015 – translating to over one billion devices.

“By 2015, 67 per cent of all open OS devices will have an average selling price of $300 [£184] or below, proving that smartphones have been finally truly democratised,” added Cozza.

But where there are winners, there have to be losers too and the biggest fall from grace will happen to Symbian, if Gartner predictions are to be believed.

In 2010, the OS held 37.6 per cent market share. However, Gartner predicted this would almost halve to 19.2 per cent this year as its previous backer, Nokia, moved over to Windows Phone 7 as its primary software.

Microsoft will be happy to see Gartner predict steady growth for its mobile OS, reaching a market share of 10.8 per cent in 2012.

It seems the glory days of Apple’s iOS might soon be over.

Whilst market share was expected to rise again this year – up to 19.4 per cent from 15.7 per cent in 2010 – the analyst firm predicted the years following will see it fall to 18.9 per cent in 2012 and 17.2 per cent in 2015.

These figures will still see Apple retain the second spot for most popular mobile OS though.

Earlier this week, a survey conducted by YouGov showed Android was already the most popular OS in the UK, accounting for 28 per cent of all mobile use.