Just as Gartner missed the mark on Android growth last year, it’s very likely the research firm’s latest predictions are also too conservative this year. According to Gartner, Android will be the No. 2 smartphone OS worldwide by the end of 2010. To do so, Android will have to surpass both Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating system to become second only to Symbian.
By 2014, according to the report, Android and Symbian will be approximately equal in market share. However, it’s important to note that Symbian has such a large worldwide market share due to a preponderance of legacy devices, legacy here being another term for “old.” While much of the world has a much lower level of device turnover than is common in the United States and Western Europe, old phones are still going to be replaced when they die or when they fail to meet their users’ needs. Nokia, with its aging phone population, faces that turnover much sooner than does the Android world.
A portion of those old Nokia phones are going to be replaced with Android devices, while a much smaller portion of Android devices will be replaced with Symbian phones. Nokia’s market share will sink while Android’s market share grows. This crossing point will happen sooner than predicted in 2014 and could happen as soon as the end of 2012. There is, of course, a wild card. Microsoft is getting ready to release its new phone and its new Windows Phone 7 operating system.
For more, read the eWeek article Google Android Smartphone OS Will Overtake BlackBerry, Apple OSes.