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Android Takes 44.9% Share of UK Market

Jun 14, 2011 19:41 GMT  ·  By
Android's share grows significantly in the UK
   Android's share grows significantly in the UK

Google's Android operating system is currently the leading mobile platform on the UK smartphone market, some of the latest reports on the matter show. The mobile OS was present on 44.9 percent of all smartphones on the UK market in the three months ending May 15 2011, a recent report from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows.

Android already managed to top other mobile operating systems on the smartphone segment in the United States, and it seems that it is making similar moves in more countries.

In the UK, the platform registered impressive growth when compared to a year ago. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech notes that Google's mobile OS saw its market share going up by 35.1 percentage points since a year ago.

Android's impressive increase in market share hurt Nokia significantly, it seems. The Symbian OS, Nokia's main platform at the moment, dropped 21.4 percentage points since a year ago, to only 10.6 percent of the market, registered in the three months ended May 15 2011.

Dominic Sunnebo, director of Global Consumer Insight at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, says that Nokia still has a series of loyal customers left, although many of its users traded Symbian for Android.

“There is no denying that Nokia has lost a significant amount of customers over the last 12 months, however, many of the remaining customers appear to be far more loyal to the brand, trading up to Nokia Smartphones from Nokia non-Smartphones,” he notes, according to TNW.

“Nokia is failing to attract new buyers to the brand, however, it retains an existing, dedicated customer-base to sell the new Windows based Smartphones to later this year.”

Google's Android OS is growing in other markets around the world as well, and is already the most popular platform in the UK, Germany, France, US, Australia and Japan, the research firm states.

However, its growth started to slow down in certain markets, including the United States, where it faces great competition from Apple's iPhone, now available via AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and unlocked from Apple themselves.