While Apple's iPhone has the mystique and the fanatical following, the sales numbers tell a different story. When it comes to smartphones, Google's Android devices have grown 886 percent in year-over-year sales since its debut.
It didn't start out that way. There were plenty of skeptics but, over time, a growing number of hardware manufacturers adopted the technology. Now, sales of Android smartphones exceed 100,000 units a day, according to a new report by Canalys, a market research firm.
An analysis of Canalys' detailed data shows remarkable collective growth of Android device shipments across a range of handset vendors' portfolios. With key products from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG -- among others -- shipments of smartphones running the Google-backed Android operating system have taken a commanding lead.
The leader
Among individual manufacturers, Nokia retained a substantial lead in the worldwide smart phone market in the second quarter, achieving a 38 percent market share. The vendor shipped a record 23.8 million smart phones during the quarter, representing growth of 41 percent on a year ago. But Nokia's market dominance is not as unassailable as it once was, with its performance outpaced by growth in the smartphone market as a whole, the report said.
The smartphone market grew by 64 percent annually worldwide in the second quarter of 2010. At the same time, shipments of RIM's BlackBerry smart phones grew by 41 percent.
Helped by the continued strong performances of devices such as the Curve 8520, it was once again the second place vendor with an 18 percent market share, while also retaining its leadership position in North and Latin America. Despite a period of turbulent PR, initial shipments of the iPhone 4 were predictably strong and contributed to Apple's 61 percent growth and worldwide market share of 13 percent for the quarter.
Impressive momentum
"The latest release of our detailed and complete country-level smartphone shipment data for Q2 2010 clearly reveals the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world," said Canalys VP and Principal Analyst Chris Jones. "In the United States, for example, we have seen the largest carrier, Verizon Wireless, heavily promoting high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid by Motorola and the Droid Incredible by HTC."
The U.S. smartphone market grew 41 percent year on year, the report said. It is the largest smartphone market in the world by a significant margin, with 14.7 million units accounting for 23 percent of global shipments in the second quarter of 2010. Android devices collectively represented a 34 percent share of the U.S. market in the quarter, and with growth of 851 percent Android became the largest smartphone platform in the country.
