The worldwide smartphone market will grow nearly 50 percent this year and Google Inc’s Android will take over as the leading operating system, a technology market research firm said on Tuesday.
International Data Corp (IDC) said smartphone vendors are expected to ship more than 450 million smartphones this year compared with 303.4 million last year.
IDC said the smartphone market would grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market as consumers and enterprise users upgrade their basic handsets to smartphones with advanced features.
The research firm said Android was expected to surpass Nokia’s Symbian this year and become the leading smartphone platform.
“Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system this year after racing into the No. 2 position in 2010,” IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas said.
“For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party,” Llamas said.
“This year will see a -coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users,” he said.
IDC also predicted strong growth for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, which has been losing market share, but was recently adopted by Finland’s Nokia.
“Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences,” Llamas said.
“The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform,” he said.
“We expect the first devices to launch in 2012,” Llamas said. “By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be the No. 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.”
IDC said Android would have a 39.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone operating system market this year, followed by Symbian with 20.9 percent, Apple’s iOS with 15.7 percent, Research In Motion’s Blackberry with 14.9 percent and Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile with 5.5 percent.
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