14 DAY TRIAL // Recent data from IDC's European Mobile Phone Tracker shows that the Western European mobile phone market went up by 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of the last year when compared to the same time frame the year before, reaching 58.7 million units.
Smartphones enjoyed an impressive growth of 99.4 percent year on year in Q42010, reaching 25.6 million units, and accounting for 44 percent of the total volume shipments.
The sales of feature phones went down 24.8 on a yearly basis, reaching 33.1 million units, the report shows.
Among smartphones, Android enjoyed the most impressive growth, with handsets from HTC, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung (in addition to the Apple iPhone 4) being the most advertised devices of the quarter.
Apparently, Android managed to grow a whopping 1,580 percent on a yearly basis, reaching 7.9 million units when compared to the 470 thousand units sold in the same quarter a year before.
Apple's iOS registered a growth of 66 percent in 4Q10 when compared to the year before, as devices were available via more wireless carriers.
Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 platform managed to grow 18 percent on a yearly basis, and 100 percent from the previous quarter.
According to IDC, the fact that Windows Phone 7 enjoyed a soft launch and that it was not available in local languages might have contributed to its slow take off.
“The last quarter of 2010 clearly shows the trends for the coming years in Western Europe. The Western European mobile phone market will be dominated by smartphones, and Android will be the king of the hill,” said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC.
“Android surged from 4% to 31% market share in less than a year to become the market leader in 4Q10 and the fastest growing operating system ever.
“IDC estimates at that Android will grow at a 37% compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 in Western Europe, overtaking the overall market growth in the period and that of its direct competitor, the iOS from Apple.”
The research firm also notes that the recent partnership between Microsoft and Nokia would offer other OSes the possibility to exploit the transition period between Symbian and Windows Phone 7.
“Android and iOS will fiercely compete to attract all current Symbian users as they will need to migrate to another platform in the future,” Francisco Jeronimo continued.