Android continued its triumphant march forward during the second quarter of 2010, overtaking Apple’s iOS to become the third-most-popular operating system in the world.
The seemingly ubiquitous OS also triumphed over RIM’s BlackBerry in the US and is now rated as the most popular smartphone platform in the States.
“A non-exclusive strategy that produces products selling across many communication service providers (CSPs) and the backing of so many device manufacturers, which are bringing more attractive devices to market at several different price points, were among the factors that yielded its growth this quarter,” explained Gartner research VP Carolina Milanesi.
“[Overall], smartphone sales to end users totaled 61.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 50.5 percent increase from the same period in 2009. The top four smartphone OS vendors exhibited growth in the second quarter of 2010, and accounted for 91 percent of the worldwide smartphone OS market, up 6 percent year-on-year.”
According to Milanesi, the second quarter also saw “some movement” in the top 10 mobile device manufacturer rankings, with HTC making its debut in the top 10 worldwide ranking and holding the No. 8 position with 139.1 percent growth year-on-year.
“Crucially, as we predicted, the sudden growth in media tablets, such as the Apple iPad, did not appear to hold back smartphone sales.
“We believe that most tablet users still feel the need for a truly pocketable, yet highly capable, device for those situations when it’s inconvenient to carry a device with a larger form factor,” she added.
