Android Shipments to Register a 900% Growth in 2009

According to a recent study published by Strategy Analytics, global Android smartphone shipments are expected to grow 900 percent during the ongoing year, based on great support the platform will see from operators, as well as from mobile phone vendors and developers. Basically, the Android shipments should grow about ten times in 2009, which is impressive, though it might not end up in such a great number of handsets after all.

“We forecast global Android smartphone shipments to grow an impressive 900 percent annually during 2009. The Android mobile operating system from Google gained early traction in the United States in the second half of 2008 and it is gradually spreading its presence into Europe and Asia during 2009. Android is expanding from a low base and it is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple, which we estimate will grow at a relatively lower 79 percent annually in 2009,” stated Tom Kang, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

When looking at these numbers, one should have in mind the fact that in 2008 there was only one Android-powered phone available on the market, the T-Mobile G1 (also known as HTC Dream), and that it was launched towards the end of the year, which means that the operating system had little time and few means to see a great adoption on the market.

On the other hand, when it comes to the ongoing year, things are different, as more carriers started offering the handset, (available in major markets like Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), and more will adopt it in the near future. At the same time, a second HTC Android phone has been released on the market, in the form of HTC Magic, and the Taiwanese company announced plans to release more such devices before the end of the year.

Moreover, other mobile phone makers also announced their plans to come to the market with smartphones running under the Android operating system, and among them we can count Samsung, which already announced its i7500 Android phone, expected to start shipping in June, Motorola, which confirmed plans for an Android phone, Sony Ericsson, which announced recently that was likely to release such a handset before the end of the year, or LG, also expected to make a move in the area.

Previous reports pointed towards an even greater number of Android-based phones to be released into the wild during 2009, somewhere around 40, which should indeed increase the adoption of the platform on the market. The fact that it should be present on devices from a wide range of operators all around the globe will most probably give the OS yet another boost, which means that the 900 percent growth is likely to be achieved, if not exceeded.

“Android has fast been winning healthy support among operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google's support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years,” stated Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics. The entire report is available on the firm's site.