The Android mobile operating system from Google Inc. has – according to research from Gartner Inc. – now taken more than half of all of the smartphones that were sold in the 2011 third quarter.
The popularity of the Android-based Samsung Electronics Co. handsets contributed to this success. In total, Android devices made up 52.5 percent of the sales of smartphones, which brings it to a position that is twice as big as it was in 2010 at the same time.
According to the email report by Gartner, even as many consumers delayed their smartphone purchase until the most recent iPhone and other upcoming models were released, there was still an increase of 42 percent of smartphone sales.
An analyst from the Egham, England-based European unit at Gartner, Roberta Cozza said that “Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment, and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems.”
Between the second and third quarter of 2011, the sale of smartphones increased by a full percentage point, reaching 26 percent of all mobile phone sales. At the same time, the Symbian handsets from Nokia fell by nearly 20 percent from last year at the same time, now representing only 16.9 percent of the sales of the company as it changed its operating system to the Windows Corp. Windows Phone
On the other hand, Samsung is the manufacturer of the Galaxy line of smartphones, which are based on Android technology and has now become the largest maker of smartphones for its first time.
