Canalys: Android On Almost Half of Smartphones

Apple may have overtaken Nokia as the world's largest smartphone maker, but Android is unchallenged as the top smartphone operating system. U.K.-based research firm Canalys released findings Monday showing Android increased its market share to 48% of smartphone shipments in the second quarter. That reflects 379% growth from a year ago to 51.9 million units.

With 20.3 million iPhones shipped in the quarter, Apple was a distant second with 19% share. Still, Apple's iOS platform for the first time overtook Nokia's Symbian operating system for the first time. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7smartphone platform, which won't roll out on Nokia phones in volume until next year, has only 1% of the global market, down 52% from a year ago.

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion also continued a precipitous slide, with its North American share slipping to 12% from 33% a year ago. Canalys, however, noted that RIM's global shipments grew 11% last year and that BlackBerry still has strength in emerging markets such as Indonesia and South Africa.

"Nonetheless, it must continue to innovate and recapture lost momentum," the firm stated. "It's critical that the next-generation BlackBerry OS 7-based products launch ahead of the upcoming holiday season to compete in the market."

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