Three out of every four smartphones sold in the third
quarter featured Google Inc's Android mobile operating system, as the gap
between Google and Apple Inc-based phones widened further, according to a new
research report.
Shipments of Android-based smartphones made
by Samsung, HTC and other vendors nearly doubled in the third quarter, reaching
136 million units, according to industry research firm IDC.
The strong sales boosted Android's share of
the worldwide smartphone market to 75 percent, from 57.5 percent in the
year-ago period.
Apple's share of the market increased to 14.9
percent during the third quarter, from 13.8 percent a year earlier. Apple's
iPhone uses the company's iOS mobile software.
While Android pulled further ahead of Apple's
iOS, its gains have come mainly at the expense of rival operating systems
Blackberry and Symbian, with shipments of phones running those systems
declining significantly.
IDC analyst Kevin Restivo cited Android's
close "tie-ins" to Google's broad
array of online services, which include online search and
maps, as an important asset that has helped Android grow.
"Google has a thriving, multi-faceted
product portfolio. Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins to the mobile
OS, do not," Restivo said in the IDC report, which was released on
Thursday.
Google offers its Android operating system
free to phone manufacturers, and primarily makes money from online advertising
when consumers access its services on the devices.
Research in Motion's Blackberry operating
system had 7.7 percent share in the third quarter, compared with 9.5 percent a
year earlier.
Symbian, which had 14.6 percent share a year
ago, had a 4.1 percent share in the third quarter. Smartphone maker Nokia still
offers the Symbian software in some of its phones, but the company has largely
shifted to Microsoft Corp's software.
Mobile versions of Microsoft's software
accounted for 3.6 percent of the smartphone market in the third quarter.
But IDC said that the
recent launch of the new Microsoft Phone 8 operating system could improve its
position in the fast-growing market.
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