The latest UK market share figures for smartphone operating systems show Google’s Android OS continuing to surge ahead as the dominant platform, firmly trouncing rivals Apple and Blackberry.
Android soars
The stats from research spods Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the quarter ending 20th February 2011 show Android grabbing a hefty 37.4% UK market share (up from 8.3 per cent year-on-year), while Apple’s iOS share has slid down to 22 per cent .
Dominic Sunnebo, Consumer Insight Director – Global, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech commented:
If you have any interest in technology, the phenomenon that is Android is unlikely to have passed you by. It has been widely reported that Android is challenging the traditional dominance of Apple’s iOS, RIM and Symbian in the smartphone sector, but our market share figures reveal that far from playing catch up, Android is now dominating the sector in many key territories.
Upgraders
Most of the new Android and Apple iOS users have upgraded from a bog standard mobile or lowly feature phone , with 74.9 per cent of iOS and 73.8 per cent of Android’s new customers never owning a snazzy smartphone before.
Sunnebo says that neither Android nor Apple’s iOS are currently stealing many customers from each other, but instead are luring folks over from the Symbian, RIM and Windows platforms.
That said, Blackberry (RIM) remains a strong performer in the UK, registering a healthy growth over the past year to keep second place with a 23.3 per cent share, putting it just in front of Apple’s iOS with 22 per cent, but both lag considerably behind Android dominant 37.4 per cent share.
[Via]
