14 DAY TRIAL // The sales of mobile phones running under Google's Android operating system seem to have been very high in the UK market during the past months. According to a recently published report from GfK Retail and Technology's, the sales of Android-based mobile devices went up by to less than 350 percent during the second quarter of the ongoing year, when compared to the previous three-month period.
Undoubtedly, the Android has started to being more widely adopted by mobile phone makers and wireless carriers around the world. Moreover, more and more powerful, appealing mobile phones powered by the operating system have started to emerge on the market, and examples of such devices would include Motorola's Milestone or Milestone XT720, Google's Nexus One, HTC's Desire, or Samsung's Galaxy S phone, just to name a few.
The mobile operating system has seen its market share in the UK going up as well during the time frame. According to the aforementioned report, Android enjoyed a share of 13.2 percent of the smartphone market in the UK in Q2 2010, up from only 3 percent of the market during the first quarter of the year.
However, the growing trend has caught the entire smartphone market in the UK, it seems, especially when it comes to the contract market. The report notes that “phones with an advanced Operating System (OS) continue to grow in the contract market, reaching 66.7% in Q2 2010 compared to 55% in Q1 2010.” The increase was continuous throughout the first half of 2010, and should continue at the same pace until the end of the year.
GfK's latest monthly data illustrated the impressive growth in smartphone sales, as they represented 73 percent of the contract market during June. “The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name,” GfK analyst Megan Baldock commented on the findings of the report. “Operating Systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right,” she concluded.