New data out from Gartner paint a bleak picture for Symbian and its reign of dominance in terms of smartphone OS market share worldwide.
While Symbian still holds the lead at 36.6% of the world’s smartphone OS market, it has slipped from an overwhelming 46.6% last year during the third quarter. Meanwhile, Android has skyrocketed, going from 3.5% during Q3 2009 to 25.5% in Q3 2010. With Android installed on over a quarter of all smartphones shipped worldwide, the folks behind Symbian better hope their recent reorganization will turn things around.
Apple’s IOS, meanwhile, has remained flat. Last year, its market share during the third quarter was 17.1%, but during the same quarter this year it fell slighty to 16.7% despite increased sales of the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It looks like nothing is going to slow down Android at this point. Still, Windows Phone just entered the scene and we’ll likely see increased competition from WebOS and MeeGo over the coming year, so it’s still anyone’s game as the smartphone market continues to heat up.
