Android Has Almost 50% Market Share

Google's Android mobile operating system has conquered almost 50% market share in its three years since Google launched it in 2008. In results released by research firm Canalys, Android is now the dominant mobile operating system in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in 35 other countries.

Google accquired Android in 2005 and launched it as an open mobile platform to developers in 2008. Phone makers such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola and LG have embraced the operating system, selling millions of handsets worldwide on smart phones and tablet devices.

Apple's iOS operating system also made tracks with 19% market share, overtaking Nokia as the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer for the first time. Nokia recently announced it would start manufacturing handsets with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system.

Microsoft's recently released Windows Phone 7 came in with a meager 1% market share, although it has only been available for around 12 months and the numbers from the Microsoft/Nokia deal are not yet in.

RIM, who make Blackberry continued to slide in the rankings, coming in behind Apple with 12% market share, down from 33% just a year earlier.

It's not all good news for Android though, its success has attracted a plethora of lawsuits filed by the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Oracle who claim Android is using a perpetual patent licensing deal that violates a Nortel patent.

Other statistics revealed earlier in the year also show that Australian's are some of the most mobile savvy consumers in the world with smartphone penetration pushing past 35% of all phones sold.

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Jim McMahon - It's easy

|Commenter IP:76.73.102.xxx |2011-08-12 19:27:34

It's easy for Google to get market share when you steal Apple's IP. Already, Android products are being blocked by court action including Samsung's products in Australia as well as in Europe. HTC is also likely to lose court rulings in Apple's favour. This means that Android phones and tablets are likely to have software support withdrawn or blocked, making them mostly useless to the user.

You can't build a business on stolen IP.

Carl Butcher - Carlos Computer

|Commenter IP:118.208.188.xxx |2011-08-14 11:11:47

Android's market share doesn't have anything to do with "stealing IP". It's all about availability.

When you've got an open OS available across multiple devices, handsets and manufacturers it's going to get more market penetration.

Apple and RIM don't license their OS and control their entire manufacturing chain. Hence, a smaller market share.

Greater market share doesn't necessarily mean one OS or platform is better than the other. It just allows the end consumer a greater range of products to choose from when you've got Android on literally hundreds of different types of phones, iOS on 1 and Blackberry OS on a handful of devices.

Coming back to the point about IP. It's still unfounded and alleged at this point whether Android has stolen anything and that really comes down to the evidence presented in those cases. For anyone to say "X" is guilty at this point just doesn't give the justice system the time to properly analyse the case. Innocent until proven guilty.

At the end of the day, all these companies "borrow" each others ideas to an extent. Just look at the notifications update in iOS 5, it's pretty much an exact copy of the way Android does its notifications.

I've always been an advocate that competition is healthy and if companies want a leg up they should be creating better, cheaper and more innovative products to gain customers. Not suing each other out of existence, because without competition, what's their motive to continue to innovate?

Carlos Computers - Cairns Computer Repairs, Sales and Service

Android Has Almost 50% Market Share

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