Google Inc’s open-source Android will become the No. 2 mobile operating system this year, leapfrogging BlackBerry and challenging market leader Nokia Corp’s Symbian by 2014, a research firm said on Friday.
The technology firm Gartner said Symbian and Android will account for 59.8 percent of mobile operating system (OS) sales by 2014.
“Symbian will remain at the top of Gartner’s worldwide OS ranking due to Nokia’s volume and the push into more mass market price points,” Gartner said. “However, by the end of the forecast period, the number one spot will be contested with Android, which will be at a very similar share level.”
According to Gartner, Symbian will hold a 40.1 percent OS market share at the end of this year, followed by Android with 17.7 percent, Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry with 17.5 percent, Apple Inc with 15.4 percent for the iOS used by the iPhone and Windows Mobile from Microsoft Corp with 4.7 percent.
By 2014, Symbian’s share will fall to 30.2 percent while Android’s will rise to 29.6 percent, followed by Apple with 14.9 percent, Blackberry with 11.7 percent and Windows with 3.9 percent, Gartner forecast.
Symbian last year had a 46.9 percent share of the OS market followed by Blackberry with 19.9 percent, Apple with 14.4 percent, Windows with 8.7 percent and Android with 3.9 percent, Gartner said.
Gartner said it expected handset manufacturers, such as Samsung, to launch a number of budget devices in the second half of the year using Android and for other players, such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Motorola Inc, to follow suit.
“This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010,” Gartner said.
Nokia on Friday named Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive, to head the Finnish telecom giant as it battles slumping profits and an eroding market share in the smartphone segment.
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