According to newly released stats from Kantar WorldPanel Comtech and reported in the UK's Guardian newspaper, Android's climb has continued unabated. The following figures are quoted from that report, rounded to the nearest whole number where possible.
Year to March 2011
Android Symbian iOS
GB +29% -15% -17%
GER +34% -22% -11%
FR +29% -13% -24%
ITA +17% -16% +1.5
9 months to March 2011
Android Symbian iOS
US +36% -9% +6%
AUS +26% -19% -1%
JAP +36% -19% -10%
(Excuse the cr@ppy formatting. Tab isn't working in this input box.}
It's most interesting to note that even in the US, Apple's presumed home field advantage has only delivered a 6% market share increase, that including the launch of the iPhone 4 on Verizon, the US's largest mobile network. Across the countries surveyed, Apple's average drop in market share was 8%, but that was small potatoes compared to the hit Symbian took - a staggering 16% drop.
One caveat - Although Apple's iOS had only a 6% gain in the US, it should be remembered that when compared to the iOS drop reported in the other large first world countries surveyed, their performance was 14% better than the world average, and the US has roughly a 50% share of the maker's products.
Having said that, it's certainly beyond question that Android is a tour de force in the smartphone arena.
Gartner, the respected industry research company, has predicted that it's possible, if not probable, that Samsung will overtake Nokia as the world's biggest smartphone maker in the third quarter of this year. With the Galaxy S 2 production ramping up, and massive apparent demand for the device, Samsung seems a virtual certainty to take the smartphone crown.
Now, with all that momentum, Google should be implementing a programme of massive product improvement. One can wish...
Cheers,
R2D2