• Gartner et al, Wednesday, November 10, 2010 1:13 PM

Can anything stop the rise of smartphones, and Android-powered devices in particular? Not according to new data from Gartner, which finds that smartphone sales nearly doubled year-over-year, while Android's market presence has soared more than sevenfold.

"The smartphone revolution shows no signs of weakening," writes Mashable regarding the figures. "Android is benefiting from global adoption of different models by different carriers, and from its extending price range," adds ZDNet.

Arguably the greatest threat to Android is an end to the exclusive partnership between Apple's iPhone and AT&T. As Fast Company writes: "Android's amazing figures ... are mainly [due] to sales in North America--proof, if anything, that, despite it being the U.S.'s most popular smartphone, the sooner AT&T's iPhone monopoly is broken, the less it will be eclipsed by its rival."

Indeed, as TechCrunch notes, " Gartner estimated that Android phones accounted for 75 percent to 80 percent of Verizon Wireless's smartphone trade in the third quarter of 2010." Meanwhile, Mashable says, "Gartner sees two ways to succeed in the smartphone market, one fitting the description of Apple's iOS and the other of Android."

"Any platform that fails to innovate quickly -- either through a vibrant multi-player ecosystem or clear vision of a single controlling entity -- will lose developers, manufacturers, potential partners and ultimately users," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Overall, smartphone sales still accounted for just 19.3% of overall mobile phone sales by the end of the third quarter. The top five supplier remains Nokia, followed by Samsung, LG, Apple, and Blackberry maker Research In Motion. The top three, however, lost market share to smartphone sellers such as Apple, RIM and HTC.

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