Android became the second largest smartphone platform worldwide in the third quarter with a 25.5% share, up from just 3.5% a year ago, according to new data from Gartner. The research firm estimates
Android phones alone accounted for 75% to 80% of Verizon Wireless's smartphone trade, while also helping to boost the sales of manufacturers such as Samsung and ZTE.
During the quarter, Apple
also surged ahead of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion to become the fourth largest phone maker globally, with a 3.2% market share, just ahead of RIM's 2.9%. Smartphone sales nearly doubled from a
year ago to a record 81 million and overall mobile sales grew 35% to 417 million units. Read more here.