Figures just released show Google's Android is forging ahead as the number one selling smartphone operating system in the world.
Analysts, Gartner say Android had a 36% market share in Q1 this year - up from 9.6% a year ago. Symbian is in second place, down from 44.2% to 27.4% and Apple's iOS is third at 16.8%, up from 15.3%.
There's a big drop for RIM's Blackberry devices in fourth place - 19.7% down to 12.9%.
The Guardian reports an interesting comment from Gartner's principal research analyst, Roberta Cozza, about customer loyalty:
"Every time a user downloads a native app to their smartphone or puts their data into a platform's cloud service, they are committing to a particular ecosystem and reducing the chances of switching to a new platform. This is a clear advantage for the current stronger ecosystem owners Apple and Google. As well as putting their devices in the context of a broader ecosystem, manufacturers must start to see their smartphones as part of a computing continuum."The theory is apps are creating operating-system loyalty and getting customers to change to another platform could prove difficult.
You can read the full Gartner press release here.
(Via: The Guardian)
You can follow IJSMblog on Twitter and Facebook
Comments