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What a difference a year makes in the booming smartphone market . A year ago, the world's leading smartphone operating systems,Android and iOS, owned a little over half the market. Now they ownmore than 80 percent of it. Of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped in the calendar quarterending in March, 59 percent had Android on them and 23 percent ranApple iOS, according to a report released Thursday by InternationalData Corporation (IDC). That's nearly a 30 percent jump from thepair's 54.4 percent share of shipments during the same period in2011. The remainder of the market was left to Symbian (6.8 percent), RIMBlackberry (6.4 percent), Linux (2.3 percent) and Windows 7/Mobile(2.2 percent). "The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination offactors that the competition has struggled to keep up with," RamonLlamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technologyand Trends program, said in a statement. "Neither Android nor iOSwere the first to market with some of these features, but the waythey made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless hasquickly earned a massive following," he added. In addition, both platforms have been able to build robustdeveloper communities, added Kevin Restivo, a senior researchanalyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. "Inorder for operating system challengers to gain share, theircreators and hardware partners need to secure developer loyalty,"he observed. "This is true because developer intentions or enthusiasm for aparticular operating system is typically a leading indicator ofhardware sales success," he added. During the period, Android shipments showed the greatest growth, to89.9 million units from 36.7 million in 2011, a 145 percentincrease. Almost half those shipments (45.4 percent) weresmartphones made by Samsung . Apple iPhone shipments climbed 88.7 percent during the quarter, to35.1 million from 18.6 million in 2011. Android and iOS gains during the period were largely at the expenseof Symbian and Blackberry smartphones. Symbian's shipments dropped60.6 percent and Blackberry's slipped 29.7 percent. While Microsoft's share of the market remains small, shipments ofsmartphones based on its operating systems climbed 33 percent, to3.3 million from 2.6 million in 2011. "Windows Mobile/Windows Phone has yet to make significant inroadsin the worldwide smartphone market, but 2012 should be considered aramp-up year for Nokia and Microsoft to boost volumes," IDC noted. "Until Nokia speeds the cadence of its smartphone releases or morevendors launch their own Windows Phone-powered smartphones, IDCanticipates slow growth for the operating system," it said. Follow freelance technology writer John P. Mello Jr. and Today@PCWorld on Twitter. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Halogen Spot Lights , China Halogen Light Fixture for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits LED Recessed Downlights.
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