As worldwide smart phone sales grew by 50 per cent during the second quarter, Android was the big winner, as it became the third largest operating system and sales passed 10 million units for the first time, according Gartner.
The Android camp managed to sell 10.6 million smart phones during the second quarter, up from about 755,900 a year ago and 5.2 million during the first three months of 2010. Sales are still mainly driven by North America, where Android is now the number one platform. A large number of smart phones at different price points combined with availability on many operators are the reasons for Android’s explosive growth, according to Gartner. Before the end of the year it is expected to become the second largest smart phone operating system, Gartner said.
Symbian is still the largest smart phone operating system in the world. Sales totaled 25.4 million units, up from 20.9 million a year earlier, but its market share dropped from 51 per cent to 41.2 per cent.
Research In Motion (RIM) may have been forced to concede the top spot in North America to Android, but it held on to the second spot worldwide. Also, it is still the fourth largest phone maker in the world. Sales grew from 7.8 million to 11.2 million Blackberries, but its market share dropped from 19 per cent to 18.2 per cent.
Apple’s iOS is now the fourth largest smart phone operating system in the world. Sales grew from 5.3 million to 8.7 million iPhones, and its market share grew from 13.0 per cent to 14.2 per cent.
In the fifth spot, sales of smart phones based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile stayed at 3.1 million units, with market share dropping from 9.3 per cent to 5 per cent. The arrival of phones running the Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, are badly needed to give the ailing platform a boost.
Smart phone sales totalled 61.6 million units, which means that almost one in five phones picked up by end users is now a smart phone.
However, all is not well in the smart phone market, at least for the makers, according to Gartner. Shortages of, for example, AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays, had a negative impact on the sales of some new models. Price competition, a growing number of low-cost smartphones and currency fluctuations meant the average sales price dropped, Gartner said.
Overall, the sales of mobile phones continued to grow during the second quarter, totalling 325.6 million units, Gartner said.
