Gartner’s Q1 Smartphone Report Finds Android in Top Spot
Gartner’s Q1 Smartphone Report Finds Android in Top Spot by UCStrategies Staff
The Gartner Q1 report for mobile phone/smartphone shipments shows that Google’s Android operating system has demonstrated a strong growth rate, and it looks like this is set to continue for the rest of the year. Google’s mobile operating system has extended its lead in the smartphone OS market, as the global market share for Android increased from 56.9 percent to 74.4 percent year over year.
Apple’s iOS came in at a further second place, and its share has decreased from 22.5 percent in Q1 of 2012 to 18.2 percent in Q1 of this year. Third place has been claimed by BlackBerry, which also saw a decrease in shares from 6.8 percent in Q1 last year to 3 percent last quarter.
In the same quarter last year, Microsoft shares stood at 1.9 percent, and increased to 2.9 percent last quarter. However, in spite of the company’s alliance with Nokia, it is still not causing major ripples in the mobile OS space; according to Gartner, Nokia came in at second place in the worldwide mobile phone shipments in Q1, but fell to 10th place for smartphone shipments.
A principal research analyst at Gartner, Anshul Gupta, stated that the dominance of Android in the smartphone OS market is “unshakeable” and that it is unlikely that Firefox and Tizen, newer mobile platforms, will be able to weaken Android’s lead.
Samsung is in prime position among Smartphone vendors, holding on to the top spot in smartphone shipments. It has shipped more than 64,000 devices and its share rose to 30.8 percent in Q1 from 27.6 in Q1 2012.
In second place is Apple’s iPhone which has shipped over 38,000 iPhones for 18.2 percent of the market, and Huawei dropped to fourth as LG Electronics grabbed third spot in smartphone shipments; the latter shipped 10,000 devices, or 4.8 percent of the global market and Huawei shipped more than 9,000 units for 4.4 percent of the market.
The report from Gartner shows that Android devices are becoming more prominent in the enterprise, and these findings have been mirrored by observations from some solution providers in the North American commercial space. The chief technology officer of SRV Network in Chicago, Karl Volkman, said his company’s mobile solutions practice has noted a growing momentum in Android adoptions.
Volkman said: “For a while, it was all Apple in the enterprise. But looking at our clients today, there are plenty of Android devices and it's growing into a really good mix.” (CY) Link