Overall smartphone sales increased 100 percent to 25.6 million in the Q4 2010, while feature phone sales dropped 25 percent. Combined, Western European phone sales grew 3.2 percent to 58.7 million units.
Android saw the highest growth, 1580 percent, to 8 million units sold. iOS saw its constant strong growth continue at 66 percent. Windows Phone 7 saw 18 percent growth but the number is artificially high because Windows Mobile sales were so low to begin with.
Says the research firm (via press release):
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. 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 recent alliance announced between Nokia and Microsoft will create opportunities for other operating systems 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.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Mar 2011 20:44
