Android will be number two mobile OS by 2012

Wed Oct 7 2009, 10:58 AM

Google Android will be the second-biggest mobile operating system in the world by 2012, according to Gartner. The research group says Android will overtake Research In Motion’s BlackBerry OS, the iPhone OS and Windows Mobile to capture 14.5% of the smartphone market in three years. 

Android is currently installed on just 2% of the world’s smartphones, but a slew of devices running the OS are due for launch in coming months. A range of handset makers are lined up to make Android-based phones and Gartner estimates that as many as 40 Android handsets will ship in 2010. 

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney tells ComputerWorld that Google is successfully striking a balance between the app-focused approach of Apple, and the more communications-oriented route taken by the likes of Symbian and Windows Mobile. He says that Android “has blended a focus on applications and tasks pretty well”.

Dulaney says Android will also benefit from Google’s wider operations, for instance its dominance of the search engine market. “Google's other up-and-coming consumer and enterprise products should make Android a dominant platform,” he adds.

Gartner claims only Symbian will control more of the smartphone OS market than Android in 2012. The OS runs on most smartphones made by Nokia, which is the world’s largest handset maker. However, Symbian’s market share will fall from around half of the global market to just 39%, according to Gartner. Apple will maintain its third place and Windows Mobile will stay in fourth. However, RIM’s BlackBerry OS will fall from second place to fifth, according to Gartner’s forecast.