Android continued to gain market share during the third quarter, accounting for 75 percent of all smartphone shipments. That compared to 15 percent for Apple’s iOS and 4.3 percent for BlackBerry, according to a report out from IDC. Windows Phone, while showing gains from the third quarter of 2011, still remains far behind at just two percent of worldwide smartphone shipments.
IDC noted that Microsoft has failed to “make a dent” in Android or iOS despite support from major handset makers. Could that trend change with the introduction of new Windows 8 phones?
Maybe. But the momentum is clearly behind Google and Apple, and as VentureBeat’s John Koetsier notes market share does matter. That’s because developers prefer to build products for platforms that have users.
“Some will say market share is irrelevant,” writes Koetsier. “To them I say, go get a job at RIM. Or Nokia.”
Android’s rise over the past four years is nothing short of amazing, with IDC’s Ramon Llamas noting that it “has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition” every year since it was introduced.
“The share decline of smartphone operating systems not named iOS since Android’s introduction isn’t a coincidence,” added Kevin Restivo, a senior research analyst with IDC. “The smartphone operating system isn’t an isolated product, it’s a crucial part of a larger technology ecosystem. Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio. Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins to the mobile OS, do not. This factor and others have led to loss of share for competitors with few exceptions.”
Separately, comScore today released its numbers for the U.S. Smartphone market. Here’s a look at its numbers.
