Today IDC (International Data Corporation) published a report revealing that iOS and Android dominate the smartphone market.
According to data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, iOS and Android hold shares of 59 percent and 23 percent respectively of the over 152 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012. This represents a year-over-year change of 145 percent for iOS and 88.7 percent for Android.
In the same time last year, iOS and Android held 54.4 percent together. This shows that over the last year, both operating systems, and their associated devices, have significantly moved ahead of Symbian, Blackberry, Linux, and Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile.
“The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. “Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless has quickly earned a massive following.”
In recent months, we’ve seen a low adoption of Microsoft’s mobile platforms and some trouble within the ranks of RIM, so it’s no surprise that iOS is leading the pack. However, as both iOS and Android continue to grow and innovate, both will increase their lead in the industry.
See below for the operating system highlights, as reported by IDC:
Android finished the quarter as the overall leader among the mobile operating systems, accounting for more than half of all smartphone shipments. In addition, Android boasted the longest list of smartphone vendor partners. Samsung was the largest contributor to Android’s success, accounting for 45.4% of all Android-based smartphone shipments. But beyond Samsung was a mix of companies retrenching themselves or slowly growing their volumes.
iOS recorded strong year-over-year growth with sustained demand for the iPhone 4S following the holiday quarter and the addition of numerous mobile operators offering the iPhone for the first time. Although end-user demand remains high, the iPhone’s popularity brings additional operational pressures for mobile operators through subsidy and data revenue sharing policies.
