Corporations and consumers used to be happy with handsets that served up e-mail reliably, promptly and securely. R.I.M.’s products do this very well. Now, though, Android and Apple handsets adequately handle e-mail, while also doing much more. For instance, iPhone users can download about 30 times as many apps as are available to BlackBerry users, and the process is more user-friendly.
Symbian is set to retain its position as the number one OS, with 30.2% market share in 2014. This is due to Nokia’s volume and the push into more mass market price points.
“The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Launches of updated operating systems — such as Apple iOS 4, BlackBerry OS 6, Symbian 3 and Symbian 4, and Windows Phone 7 — will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in 2H10 and 2011 and spur innovation. However, we believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers.”
Forecast: Mobile Communications Device Open OS Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)
| OS | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2014 |
| Symbian | 80,876.3 | 107,662.4 | 141,278.6 | 264,351.8 |
| Market Share (%) | 46.9 | 40.1 | 34.2 | 30.2 |
| Android | 6,798.4 | 47,462.1 | 91,937.7 | 259,306.4 |
| Market Share (%) | 3.9 | 17.7 | 22.2 | 29.6 |
| Research In Motion | 34,346.8 | 46,922.9 | 62,198.2 | 102,579.5 |
| Market Share (%) | 19.9 | 17.5 | 15.0 | 11.7 |
| iOS | 24,889.8 | 41,461.8 | 70,740.0 | 130,393.0 |
| Market Share (%) | 14.4 | 15.4 | 17.1 | 14.9 |
| Windows Phone | 15,031.1 | 12,686.5 | 21,308.8 | 34,490.2 |
| Market Share (%) | 8.7 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 3.9 |
| Other Operating Systems | 10,431.9 | 12,588.1 | 26,017.3 | 84,452.9 |
| Market Share (%) | 6.1 | 4.7 | 6.3 | 9.6 |
| Total Market | 172,374.3 | 268,783.7 | 413,480.5 | 875,573.8 |
Source: Gartner (August 2010)
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2Q10 (Thousands of Units)
| Company | 2Q10
Units |
2Q10 Market Share (%) | 2Q09
Units |
2Q09 Market Share (%) |
| Symbian | 25,386.8 | 41.2 | 20,880.8 | 51.0 |
| Research In Motion | 11,228.8 | 18.2 | 7,782.2 | 19.0 |
| Android | 10,606.1 | 17.2 | 755.9 | 1.8 |
| iOS | 8,743.0 | 14.2 | 5,325.0 | 13.0 |
| Microsoft Windows Mobile | 3,096.4 | 5.0 | 3,829.7 | 9.3 |
| Linux | 1,503.1 | 2.4 | 1,901.1 | 4.6 |
| Other OSs | 1,084.8 | 1.8 | 497.1 | 1.2 |
| Total | 61,649.1 | 100.0 | 40,971.8 | 100.0 |
